Rafed English
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Adapted from: "Casuality and Freedom" by: "Ayatullah Mohsen Araki"

The Theory of Necessity (Sadra’s Theory in the Interpretation of Causality and its Relation to Human Freedom)

Before explaining the theory of necessity, it is noteworthy that the reason beyond calling this theory "The Theory of Necessity" lies in the fact that according to this theory the relation between cause and effect is both the relation of existence and that of necessity.

The dispute between Muslim philosophers and theologians on all types of cause on one hand and between philosophers and modern usuliyyun on voluntary agent or cause on the other hand does not concern bringing of the effect into existence by the cause, but rather granting necessity to the effect by the cause. According to the theory of necessity, the effect not only depends on the cause for its existence, but also for its necessity.

Early theologians took the cause in a general sense and the mainstream of modern usuliyyun take the voluntary agent in a particular sense just as the originator of the effect and not as the necessitating.

To give a comprehensive account of "necessity" containing its philosophical grounds in Sadra’s view requires a long and broad discussion, which is beyond the scope of this short essay. Here we are concerned with three subjects that we will study in the following order: