Explaining Horizontal Pluralities in the Vertical Worlds of Existence Based on Sadrian Philosophy

Based on the principle of the gradation of existence in Sadrian philosophy, the world of being enjoys a vertical system that extends from the highest point to the lowest levels, and each existent possesses a specific degree of existential intensity and weakness. The acceptance of this principle in Sadrian philosophy alongside one’s observations in our surrounding world of horizontal existents with no cause-effect relation, such as a stone and a tree, gave rise to an important question in the post-Sadrian period: How can these two truths come together in one place? The responses to these questions during the last 400 years have resulted in some disagreements among commentators of Mullā Ṣadrā’s works. In this study, the authors aim to demonstrate that the acceptance of the vertical and graded system of existence is not in conflict with accepting horizontal pluralities, and what is accepted in Sadrian graded existence is a differential system among all existence and not merely a cause-effect system. The key to the understanding of horizontal pluralities in Sadrian philosophy must be found in the discussion of archetypes and their additions. In presenting his own system of emanations, Mullā Ṣadrā has been greatly influenced by Suhrawardī’s philosophy and defended the quality of the emanation of archetypes at different occasions. Archetypes are the same horizontal intellects the acceptance of which is equal to resolving the problem of horizontal pluralities in all vertical worlds of existence.