Essays in Philosophy and Kalam

Essays in Philosophy and Kalam

The Role of the Will in the Determination of Human Who-ness

Document Type : Original Article

Author
Ali Moayedi
Philosophy Department, Department of Philosophy, Mofid University, Qom, Iran
10.22067/epk.2025.94265.1454
Abstract
This article examines the concept and nature of who-ness. The domain of who-ness is that in which the human being is considered as an individual rather than as a member of a species. In other words, human who-ness refers to those distinctive features that differentiate one individual from others within the same species. By clarifying the lexical and technical meanings of who-ness and examining the means of attaining it through intuition and rational analysis, this study argues that who-ness consists of the self, attributes, actions, and the relation that these attributes and actions bear to the self. It then investigates the priority and posteriority of attributes and actions within the constitution of who-ness, demonstrating that each may, in different respects, precede the other. The study further examines the concept and nature of the will as one of the fundamental dimensions of human existence and analyzes its role in determining human who-ness. It concludes that the will contributes to the determination of who-ness in three ways: (1) the will is itself an attribute of the human being that stands in relation to the self and thus constitutes human who-ness; (2) the will gives rise to actions, and actions bear a relation to the self that forms who-ness; and (3) actions arising from the will generate attributes in the human being that are related to the self and therefore play a constitutive role in the determination of who-ness.
Keywords
who-ness
self-knowledge
will
human being
attribute
action
Subjects

Authors retain the copyright and full publishing rights. This is an open access article distributed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0)

Dihkhudā, ʻAlī Akbar. Lughat Nāmih. Tehran: Intishārāt-i University of Tehran, 1995/1373.
Fayyūmī, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad. al-Miṣbāḥ al-Munīr. S.l. s.n. s.d.
Ḥasanzādih, Ḥasan. Durūs Maʿrifat Nafs. S.l. s.n. 2007/1385.
Ibn Sīnā, Ḥusayn ibn ʻAbd Allāh. Kitāb al-Ḥudūd (Rasāʾil Ibn Sīnā). S.l. Bīdār, s.d.
Javādī Āmūlī, ʿAbd Allāh. Tafsīr Insān bi Insān. Qum: Markaz Nashr Asrāʾ, 2007/1385.
Jurjānī, ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad. al-Taʿrīfāt. Tehran: Nāṣir Khusrū, 1992/1370.
Khūʾī, Abū al-Qāsim. Dirāsāt fī ʻIlm al-Uṣūl. Qum: s.n. 1998/1419.
Kindī, Yaʿqūb ibn Isḥāq. Rasālah fī Ḥudūd al-Ashyāʾ wa Rusūmi-hā dar Rasāʾil al-Kindī al-Falsafīya.  Cairo: Dār al-Fikr al-ʻArabī, 1978/1398.
Mīrdāmād. Muḥammad Bāqir. Al-Qabasāt. Tehran Intishārāt-i University of Tehran, 1996/1374.
Ṣadr al-Dīn Shīrāzī, Muḥammad. al-Ḥikma al-Mutaʻālīya fī al-Asfār al-ʻAqlīya al-Arbaʻa. Qum: Maktaba al-Muṣṭafavī, 1990/1368.
Ṣadr al-Dīn Shīrāzī, Muḥammad. Khalaq al-Aʻmāl. Dar Majmūʻah-yi Rasāʾil Falsafī Ṣadr al-Mutaʾallihīn. Tehran: Hikmat, 1997/1375.
Ṣadr, Sayyid Muḥammad Bāqir. Mawsūʿat al-Imām al-Shahīd al-Sayyid Muḥammad Bāqir al-Ṣadr. Qum: Pazhūhishgāh ʻIlmī Takhaṣuṣī Shahīd Ṣadr, 2013/1434.
Shīrāzī, Quṭb al-Dīn. al-Ḥikma al-Ishrāq (Taʿlīqah Mulāṣadrā). Tehran: Bunyād Hikmat Islāmī Ṣadrā, 2013/1392.
Suhravardī, Yaḥyā ibn Ḥabash. al-Ḥikma al-Ishrāq. Dar Majmūʻah-yi Muṣannifāt Shaykh Ishrāq. Tehran: Vizārat Farhan va Āmūzish ʿĀlī, Mūʾassisah-yi Muṭāliʿāt va Taḥqīqāt Farhangī,  1993/1372.
Suhravardī, Yaḥyā ibn Ḥabash. Al-Wāḥ Imādī Dar Majmūʻah-yi Muṣannifāt Shaykh Ishrāq. Tehran: Vizārat Farhan va Āmūzish ʿĀlī, Mūʾassisah-yi Muṭāliʿāt va Taḥqīqāt Farhangī,  1993/1372.
Ṭabāṭabāyī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn. Uṣūl Falsafah va Ravish-i Riʾālīsm. Tehran: Ṣadrā, s.d.
Send comment about this article
Enter Name.
Enter a valid email address.
Enter a vaid affiliation.
Enter comments (At leaset 10 words)
CAPTCHA Image
Enter Security Code Correctly.
Essays in Philosophy and Kalam
Volume 58, Issue 1 - Serial Number 116
Spring & Summer 2026
September 2026
Pages 255-274

  • Receive Date 04 July 2025
  • Revise Date 25 October 2025
  • Accept Date 28 October 2025