Consciousness and Time: A Comparative Conception of the Persistence of the Soul in the Philosophies of Descartes and Mullā Ṣadrā

Abstract

This study, employing a descriptive-analytical method and a comparative approach, examines the role of consciousness and time in explaining the persistence of the soul in the philosophies of Descartes and Mulla Sadra. The central question is how the soul maintains its continuity and identity despite cognitive and existential changes. In Descartes’ philosophy, consciousness, understood as clear and distinct thinking, constitutes the foundation of the identity of the thinking self and guarantees its stability. Within this framework, the thinking self is an immaterial and simple substance whose persistence depends upon continuous divine conservation, while time plays no essential role in the constitution of its identity. In contrast, Mulla Sadra, drawing upon the principles of the primacy of existence, the gradation of existence, substantial motion, and the unity of the knower and the known, regards consciousness as a degree of the soul’s existential realization that intensifies and develops through time. Accordingly, time is an intrinsic dimension of the soul’s existential journey, and its persistence is explained through the continuity and deepening of its existential levels. Comparative analysis demonstrates that the differences between these two philosophers in explaining the persistence of the soul stem from their distinct metaphysical foundations and reveal two different models of personal identity: a static model and a dynamic one.

Keywords: Consciousness, Time, Persistence of the Soul, Unity of the Knower and the Known, Substantial Motion, Descartes, Mulla Sadra.





Keywords: Consciousness, Time, Persistence of the Soul, Unity of the Knower and the Known, Substantial Motion, Descartes, Mulla Sadra.