A Comparative Study of the Theory of Virtue in the Thought of Plotinus and Mullā Ṣadrā

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Mahmud saidy ¹

Hossein Zamaniha ²

¹ Associate Professor, Department of Islamic Philosophy and Wisdom, Shahid University

² Associate Professor of the Philosophy and Wisdom Department of Shahid University

10.22067/epk.2024.90640.1384

Abstract

Virtue has long been regarded as one of the central subjects in moral philosophy. Although the origins of virtue ethics can be traced back to Socrates, it was Plato who first presented a systematic written account of virtue in his dialogues. Aristotle subsequently developed the doctrine of the ethical mean. As two eminent theistic philosophers representing the Neoplatonic and Islamic philosophical traditions, respectively, Plotinus and Mullā Ṣadrā devoted considerable attention to the theory of virtue in their philosophical works. The present study aims to examine and compare their respective conceptions of virtue through an analytical-comparative approach. The findings may be summarized as follows: (a) both philosophers classify virtue into two principal categories, namely theoretical and practical virtue. The ultimate end of theoretical virtue is assimilation to God or, in Plotinus's terminology, to the Forms, whereas the principal practical virtues serve primarily as means of attaining theoretical virtue. (b) Both Plotinus and Mullā Ṣadrā assign theoretical virtue a higher status than practical virtue; nevertheless, the perfection of both kinds of virtue is regarded as indispensable for the attainment of human happiness.

Keywords

Plotinus

Mullā Ṣadrā

Virtue

God

Forms

Ethics

Subjects

• Islamic Philosophy and Kalam

---

References

Aflāṭūn. Dūrih-yi Āsār Aflāṭūn. translated by Muḥammad Ḥasan Luṭfī. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Khvārazmī, 2020/1398.

Arisṭū. Nicomachean Ethics. Translated by Barthélemy Saint Hilaire, Cairo: Dār Ṣādir, 1924/1343.

Arisṭū. Nicomachean Ethics. Translated by Muḥammad Ḥasan Luṭfī. Tehran: Nashr Nū, 2000/1378

Bahārnizhād, Zakarīyā. Fażīlat az Dīdgāh-i Mulāṣadrā". Khiradnāmah-yi Ṣadrā. No. 74, (2014/1392): 23-42.

Fatḥ ʻAlī Khānī, Muḥammad. Falsafah Akhlāq. Qum: Jāmiʿah al-Muṣṭafā, 1999/1377.

Filūtīn, Dūrih-yi Āsār Filūtīn. translated by Muḥammad Ḥasan Luṭfī. Tehran: Khvārazmī, 1988/1366.

Filūtīn, Tāsūʿāt. translated by Farīd Jabr. Beirut: Maktaba Nāshirūn, 1997/1375.

Filūtīn, Uthūlūjīyā. Ed. ʻAbd al-Raḥmān Badawī. Qum: Intishārāt-i Bīdār, 1993/1413.

Jaeger, Werner. Paideia. translated by Muḥammad Ḥasan Luṭfī. Tehran: Khvārazmī, 1998/1376.

Khazāʻī, Zahrā. Akhlāq Fażīlat. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Ḥikmat, 2011/1389.

Khurāsānī, Sharaf al-Dīn. Az Socrates tā Arisṭū. Tehran: Shahid Beheshti University, 2014/1393.

MacIntyre, Alasdair. "Akhlāq Fażīlat Madār". translated by Ḥamīd Shahrīyārī, Majalih-yi Naqd va Naẓar. No. 13-14 (1999/1377): 286-299.

MacIntyre, Alasdair. Tārīkhchih Falsafah Akhlāq. translated by Inshāallāh Raḥmatī, Tehran: Intishārāt-i Ḥikmat, 1998/1376.

Muḥammadī Muḥammadīyih, Zahrā;  Masʻūdī, Jahāngīr; Āqāyīzādih Turābī, Aḥmad. “Barrisī Taṭbīqī  Piyvand Fażīlat, Maʻrifat va Khiyr dar Andishih Aflāṭūn va Mulāṣadrā", Pazhūhish-hā-yi ʻAqlī Nūvīn no. 8 (2020/1398): 71-92.

Mulāṣadrā, Muḥammad ibn Ibrāḥīm. al-Ḥikma al-Mutaʻālīya fī al-Asfār al-ʻAqlīya al-Arbaʻa. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Tūrāth al-ʻArabī, 1981/1401.

Mulāṣadrā, Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm. al-Mabdaʾ wa al-Maʻād. Ed. Sayyid Jalāl al-Dīn Āshtīyānī, Tehran: Anjuman Ḥikmat va Falsafah-yi Irān, 1976/1354.

Mulāṣadrā, Muḥammad ibn Ibrāḥīm. al-Shawāhid al-Rubūbīyah fī al-Manāhij al-Sulūkīya. Ed. Sayyid Jalāl al-Dīn Āshtīyānī. Tehran: Markaz-i Nashr Dānishgāhī, 1982/1360.

Mulāṣadrā, Muḥammad ibn Ibrāḥīm. al-Taʿlīqāt li-Ṣadr al-Mutaʾallihīn ʿālā al-Ilāhīyāt al-Shifāʾ. Ed. Muḥsin Bīdārfar, Qum: Intishārāt-i Bīdār, s.d.

Mulāṣadrā, Muḥammad ibn Ibrāḥīm. Asrār al-Āyāt. Ed. Muḥammad Khwājavī, Tehran: Anjuman Islāmī Ḥikmat va Falsafah-yi Islāmī, 1983/1361.

Mulāṣadrā, Muḥammad ibn Ibrāḥīm. Kasr Aṣnām al-Jāhilīyah. Tehran: Bunyād Hikmat Islāmī Ṣadrā, 2003/1381.

Mulāṣadrā, Muḥammad ibn Ibrāḥīm. Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb. Tehran: Anjuman Islāmī Ḥikmat va Falsafah-yi Irān. 1984/1363.

Mulāṣadrā, Muḥammad ibn Ibrāḥīm. Majmūʻah al-Rasāʾil al-Tisʻah. Qum: Maktaba al-Muṣṭafavī, 1884/1302.

Mulāṣadrā, Muḥammad ibn Ibrāḥīm. Majmūʻah-yi Rasāʾil Falsafī. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Hikmat, 2000/1420.

Mulāṣadrā, Muḥammad ibn Ibrāḥīm. si Risālih Falsafī. Qum: Daftar Tablīghāt-i Islāmī, Ḥawzah-yi ʻIlmīyah Qum, 2009/1387.

Mulāṣadrā, Muḥammad ibn Ibrāḥīm. Tafsīr al-Qurān al-Karīm. Ed. Muḥsin Bīdārfar, Qum: Intishārāt-i Bīdār, 1988/1366.

Nū Ẓuhūr, Yūsuf; Sīrus, Dāwud. "Nisbat Fażīlat bā Saʻādat dar Niẓām Akhlāqī Aflāṭūn". Pazhūhish-hā-yi Falsafī Tabrīz. Dūrih-yi 2, no. 203 (2009/1387): 135-159.

Pincoffs, Edmond. Az Masʾalah Miḥvarī tā Fażīlatgarāyī. translated by Sayyid Ḥamīd Riḍā Ḥasanī, Mahdī ʻAlīpūr, Qum: Daftar Nashr Maʻārif, 2004/1382.