Whatness, Origin, and Purpose of Essentialist Education

Mullā Ṣadrā places the “truth” in idealism alongside “truths” in realism in his Transcendent Philosophy. For him, truths are the same truth that reveals itself at different levels. In the view of gnostics, the four-fold spiritual journeys are a way for gnostic transcendence that the wayfarer traverses at different stages. This journey begins from fiṭrah (primordial nature), which has different levels with nature as its lowest level. Therefore, this journey or, in a sense, this process of learning begins with nature and becomes complete through a hierarchy of stages. The level of learning includes the level of theory and practice at the same time. Mullā Ṣadrā’s philosophical methodology is based on revelation, rational demonstration, and intuition in the sense that all elements must perceive and confirm the reality and truth of a finding. Relying on the Transcendent Philosophy, the present study follows a demonstrative method in order to define essentialist education and explain its origin and purposes. In doing so, it benefits from a meta-analytic method to introduce the levels of essentialist learning, which is based on human fiṭrah. The purpose of this study is to present a conceptual model for education and learning whose philosophical foundations are not necessarily limited to one specific philosophical school.