انسان كبير و عالم صغير در انديشه ملاصدرا

Macrocosm and Microcosm in Mulla Sadraʹs Thought

In the discussion of macrocosm and microcosm in Sadrian philosophy, man, as the microcosm, is compared to the outside world as the macrocosm. In order to be able to explore this issue thoroughly in Mulla Sadraʹs works, it is first necessary to know how he approaches man. As we know, arthropology has different meanings, and nowadays different sciences, including psychology, sociology, physiology, and the like, deal with the different aspects of this amazing being (man) depending on their own subject. Obviously, the topic of discussion here is neither of these areas, nor anthropology itself, which is a newly developed science, studying man from phyiscal, archaeological, linguistic, and cultural angels. Since we know Mulla Sadra as a prominent philosopher who has introduced his own school of thought, we will first go through the history of philosophy to see whether there basically exist certain things called marocosm and microcosm. Moreover, since we view Mulla Sadra as not only a rationalist, but also a theosopher, we will also take a brief look at the Scripture and Sunni! (traditions). Ultimately, since a review of Mulla Sadraʹs works obviously indicates that he is greatly influenced by Ibn Arabiʹs gnosis, we will also study gnosticsʹ trend of thoughts. Gnosis plays a fundamental role in recognizing Mulla Sadraʹs view of man, and we might even he able to claim that without exploring the gnostic features ofʹ the Transcendent Philosophy, one cannot study man from a Sadrian perspective.