Transcendent Theosophy - Substantial Motion

Substantial Motion

Another central concept of Mulla Sadra's philosophy is the theory of "substantial motion" (al-harakat al-jawhariyyah), which is "based on the premise that everything in the order of nature, including celestial spheres, undergoes substantial change and transformation as a result of the self-flow (fayd) and penetration of being (sarayan al-wujud) which gives every concrete individual entity its share of being. In contrast to Aristotle and Ibn Sina who had accepted change only in four categories, i.e., quantity (kamm), quality (kayf), position (wad’) and place (‘ayn), Sadra defines change as an all-pervasive reality running through the entire cosmos including the category of substance (jawhar)." Heraclitus described a similar concept centuries earlier (Πάντα ῥεῖ - panta rhei - "everything is in a state of flux"), while Gottfried Leibniz described a similar concept a century after Mulla Sadra's work.

Read more about this topic:  Transcendent Theosophy

Famous quotes containing the words substantial and/or motion:

    All would be well
    Could we but give us wholly to the dreams,
    And get into their world that to the sense
    Is shadow, and not linger wretchedly
    Among substantial things....
    William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)

    subways, rivered under streets
    and rivers . . . in the car
    the overtone of motion
    underground, the monotone
    of motion is the sound
    of other faces, also underground—
    Hart Crane (1899–1932)