Rereading Suhrawardi's Illuminationist Philosophy in the Light of Pierre Hadot's Philosophical Model: Philosophy as a Way of Life

Pierre Hadot (1922-2010), the contemporary French philosopher showed the dynamism and true life of philosophy in philosophers’ everyday life through presenting a philosophical model, called Philosophy as a Way of Life, which is the product of his several years of research in the field of ancient philosophy. In this paper, the writers have tried to analyze and interpret Suhrawardi’s Illuminationist philosophy based on this model. Accordingly, in the first part, in addition to introducing the mentioned model, they explain its important elements such as the philosophical language of spiritual practice and its place in studying philosophical schools pursuing spiritual guidance. The second part provides an analysis and interpretation of the Illuminationist philosophy in the framework of this model. Therefore, it initially propounds the basic principles of Suhrawardi’s school regarding light, the hierarchy of lights, the soul and its significance, the world of Ideas and its necessity, epistemology, and ontology. Discussing the fundamental principles of Illuminationist philosophy helps to specify the way of life and its elements and features in this school in relation to the philosophical model of “Philosophy as a Way of Life”. Since Suhrawardi’s Illuminationist philosophy bears a tight unity with gnosis and spiritual wayfaring, it is difficult to perceive it philosophically and to demonstrate its structural coherence in explaining various philosophical problems. Through presenting certain strategies, Hadot’s model enables researchers to develop a coherent and comprehensive perception of the problems propounded in this philosophical-gnostic school and the way of life it advocates.