Patterns of Wisdom in Safavid Iran: The Philosophical School of Isfahan and the Gnostic of Shiraz(Shi'i Heritage Series)

I.B. Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies The exceptional intellectual richness of seventeenth-century Safavid Iran is epitomised by the philosophical school of Isfahan, and in particular by its ostensible founder, Mir Damad (d. 1631), and his great student Mulla Sadra (aka Sadr al-Din Shirazi, d. 1636). Equally important to the school is the apophatic wisdom of Rajab 'Ali Tabrizi that followed later (d. 1669/70). However, despite these philosophers’ renown, the identification of the 'philosophical school of Isfahan' was only proposed in 1956, by the celebrated French Iranologist Henry Corbin, who noted the unifying Islamic Neoplatonist character of some 20 thinkers and spiritual figures; this grouping has subsequently remained unchallenged for some fifty years. In this highly original work, Janis Esots investigates the legitimacy of the term 'school', delving into the complex philosophies of these three major Shi'i figures and drawing comparisons between them. The author makes the case that Mulla Sadra’s thought is independent and actually incompatible with the thoughts of Mir Damad and Rajab Ali Tabrizi. This not only presents a new way of thinking about how we understand the ‘school of Isfahan’, it also identifies Mir Damad and Rajab Ali Tabrizi as pioneers in their own right.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Chapter 1. School of Isfahan I: Mir Damad’s ‘Wisdom of the Right Side’ Mir Damad’s Life and Works Philosophical Doctrine Metaphysics I. Making the Quiddities Metaphysics II. Perpetuity and Perpetual Inception Physics: Perpetuity and Motion Psychology and Eschatology Chapter 2. The Gnostic of Shiraz: Mulla Sadra’s ‘Transcendent Wisdom’ Mulla Sadra’s Life and Works Key Elements of the Doctrine The Principality of Existence in respect to Quiddity Systematic Ambiguity of Existence Substantial Motion Eschatology Summary of Sadra’s Doctrine: Eleven Premises Addendum. Sadra and the Stoics Chapter 3. School of Isfahan II: The Apophatic Wisdom of Rajab 'Ali Tabrizi Rajab 'Ali Tabrizi’s Life and Works Pivotal Tenets: Principality of Thing and Homonymy of Existence 'Ali Quli bin Qarachaghay Khan –The Perfecter of Tabrizi’s Doctrine Chapter 4. A Comparative Analysis of the Doctrines Mir Damad and Mulla Sadra, Mir Damad and Rajab 'Ali Tabrizi Mulla Sadra and Rajab 'Ali Tabrizi Conclusion Bibliography

About the Author :
Janis Esots is a Research Associate at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, UK and Associate Professor at the Department of Asian Studies, University of Latvia, Latvia. His research focuses on Ismaili thought and the so-called ‘philosophical school of Isfahan’ (Mulla Sadra, Mir Damad, and Rajab ‘Ali Tabrizi). He is the managing editor of Encyclopedia Islamica and the editor of the Islamic Philosophy Yearbook, Ishraq.