A Historical-Analytic Deliberation over the Logical Meaning and Concomitants of the Principle of Possibility of the Nobler

According to the principle of the possibility of the nobler, which is accepted by all Islamic philosophers, the priority of superior possible over lower possible in the system of making is necessary. Given the existing evidence in the history of the evolution of philosophical thought in the world of Islam, Suhrawardi was the first Islamic philosopher who explained and demonstrated this principle and paid attention to its dimensions and concomitants, although there are some traces of the content of this principle in Aristotle’s words. After Suhrawardī, some other philosophers such as Mīr Dāmād and Mullā Ṣadrā in the philosophical school of Isfahan and ‘Allamāh Ṭabāṭabā’ī in the contemporary period presented some arguments to prove this principle and referred to several of its consequences. Here, the authors initially report the philosophers’ arguments for demonstrating this principle and then discuss its historical development. The noteworthy point of this analysis is that, although the main content of this principle has been correctly phrased and clearly corresponds with other philosophical principles, it cannot be considered a new principle in philosophy. It is, rather, another form of the principle of the commensurability of the cause and effect.