خلاصة:
The topic of the intellect (‘aql) is discussed in various chapters of the Book of Causes (Kitāb al-‘Ilal). This article aims to investigate the epistemological status of the intellect: Does the intellect exist within the human soul as the rational soul (nafs-e nāṭeqah), in addition to being the first creation and the first effect? What is the epistemological status of the intellect in the Book of Causes? By clarifying these questions, one can also examine the function of the intellect. In this article, using a descriptive-analytical method based on various chapters of Thomas Aquinas's commentary on the Book of Causes, the following findings were reached: The Book of Causes has neglected to discuss the human rational soul. However, according to the nature and essence of the intellect itself, its function is thinking and knowing; and as the second level of existence and the first effect—a divine intellect—its function is governance (cosmic administration). The objects of the intellect are things higher and lower than it, and it involves the knowledge of intellects and eternal things as well as the intellect's knowledge of itself.
ملخص الجهاز:
The Epistemological Status of Intellect in the Book of Causes (Kitab al-Ilal): Aristotle's De Anima (Exposition on Pure Good) Hassan Abbasi Hosseini Abadi 1 Corresponding Author: Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy and Islamic Theology, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran, Email: habasinu.
Using a descriptive-analytical method based on various chapters of Thomas Aquinas's commentary on the Book of Causes, I have reached these findings: the Book of Causes has overlooked the discussion regarding the human rational soul; however, according to the nature and essence of the intellect itself, its function is thinking and cognition; and as the second ontological level and the first effect, the divine intellect, its function is providence (tadbir).
Therefore, the intellect is presented as the first creature and the second cause, and Henry of Ghent has said about this: The Epistemological Position of the Intellect in the Book of Causes (Kitab al-Idah fi al-Khayr al-Mahd by Aristotle) (Hassan Abbasi Hossein Abadi) If creation is meant as the divine act, an act is something that is self-subsistent in itself, and the first thing created by God is the intellect (Malgieri, 2022, p.
The author of the Book of Causes also says in the eighth chapter: The Arabic word yliatim in the text of the Book of Causes has come with the term "totality" according to Abd al-Rahman Badawi: "And the intellect possesses totality because it is entity and form, and likewise the soul possesses totality, and nature possesses totality.
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