A Comparative Approach to Epistemological Sources: From Hillah School (Ibn Abi Jumhur Ihsa ei) to Isfahan School (Mulla Sadra)

Ibn Abi Jumhur Ihsa’ei (838 AH) adopted a comparative approach under the influence of Hillah philosophical-kalami school in order to reconcile kalam (Mu‘tazilite and Ash‘arite), philosophy (Peripatetic and Illuminationist), and Sufism. In this way, he created a distinct methodology which, after about two centuries, joined the philosophical school of Isfahan. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the similarities and differences between the achievements of three epistemological sources, namely, the intellect, unveiling and revelation, at the heart of the Shi‘ite rational philosophical trends, on the one hand, and the extension of this endeavor to the school of Isfahan (with an explicit emphasis on Sadrian philosophy), on the other hand. In doing so, the authors have initially tried to examine the roles of revelation, heart, and intellect as three important sources in Ihsa’ei’s epistemology and, ultimately, have a brief and comparative study of such roles in Sadrian philosophy.