Restatement of Evolution in the Light of the Unity of Nature and Actuality of Species in Illuminationist Philosophy

Subject Areas : Philosophy

Seyed Mohammad Ali Dibaji ¹ , Ali Akbar Nasekhian ²

1 - Associate Professor of Islamic Philosophy, Department of Theology, Tehran University, Tehran, Iran
2 - PhD of Islamic Philosophy, Department of Theology, Tehran University, Tehran, Iran

Received: 2021-09-24 Accepted : 2021-09-24 Published : 2021-08-23

Keywords: actuality of species, unity (continuity) of nature, Evolution, illuminationist philosophy,

Abstract :

The unity of the natural world has long been a subject of thought and interest for philosophers. In modern times, this has been studied by scientists in the natural sciences, including biology. Meanwhile, evolutionists believe that all kinds of natural beings in a descending continuum reach a single origin. In other words, all natural species emerge gradually from each other and finally from a common root. The evolutionists' statement of the unity of the natural world, requires that the nature of species is purely biological nature, and that this nature by itself, hasn’t any independent and actual feature. Such an exposition, as the evolutionists themselves have pointed out, is inconsistent with the theory of the illuminationist philosophers (such as Plato), who considered an independent and actual species. In this article, from the perspective of illuminationist philosophy, and especially Suhrawardi's viewpoint, the reasons of evolutionists' discussion of the unity of nature and the actuality of species has been reviewed. The results of this study show that in the illuminationist tradition, due to substantial increase of intensity, species can evolve in their own kind, but their independent actuality is provided not by material persons (sanam), but by lords of species and immaterial substantial lights