An Analysis and Investigation of Allama Tabatabaie’s View on Primary Nature of Predication between Genus and Species

Some of Avicenna’s works and those of his pupils mention the primary nature of predication between genus and species, but in a sense quite different from the view presented by Allama Tabatabaie. This is in a way that primary predication in Avicenna’s works and those of his adherents are an equivocation of what has been stated by Mulla Sadra and Allama Tabatabaie. Allama’s view is based on the primary nature of predication between genus and species. The predicate is more general than the subject and finally the predicate and the subject are not conceptually united, which is a basic drawback of this view. However, considering the conventionality of objective existence in primary predication and contemplation on existentialism can be a solution to those objections. The discovering nature of predication among mental concepts compared to the external world in the primary predication and non-uniqueness of that predication in the realm of mental concepts would produce a new attitude towards essential primary predication. In addition, the role of existence in primary predication and conventionality of existence, even in essential features of the thing, can be explained on the basis of existentialism and the ultimate view of transcendental theosophy. Finally, after investigation of objections and drawbacks mentioned, the view is defensible.