General; Abstraction or Transcendence?

The problem of the difference among the ranks of science or, in other words, the difference between general perception and particular perception is an instance of the difference between Mulla Sadra's view about the important issue of "science" and that of the preceding philosophers, most importantly Avicenna. The philosophers preceding Mulla Sadra have an alternative conception of the difference between general perception and particular perception due to the way they view the nature of science which to them has a psychic manner. On the contrary, Mulla Sadra has another conception of ranks of perception due to the philosophical foundations of his particular view on the nature of science. Using a descriptive-analytical method, the present paper touches on Mulla Sadra's and preceding philosopher's views on the process of perception and their proposed principles in this regard, and concludes that the philosophers who came before Mulla Sadra, specially Avicenna, believe that "particular" turns into "general" through "abstraction", while Mulla Sadra believes that "particular" changes into "general" through "transcendence". Of course, the principles adopted by Mulla Sadra and the evidence he introduces are unique.