
One of the important issues which has always occupied man's mind is the contradiction between causal necessity and free will. The Confusion between will and choice, and wrong presentation of the problem of free will has immersed this issue in many ambiguities. Contrary to common conception, the central pillar of the problem is not the sequence of wills; rather, acceptance of causal necessity, and creation of will and its ending up to a cause outside man's soul directly create will in man's soul. The master of theosophers (Mulla Sadra) takes into consideration the main problem of determination in will and even accepts determinism of will and man's volitional actions. However, this does not mean that Mulla Sadra denies man's choice. Using the concepts of ‘agent by compulsion’ and ‘unity of divine acts’, he tries to explain that determination is in harmony with choice and man's acts are compulsory as they are volitional. Reconstructing the problem of free will, the present paper explains and criticizes Mulla Sadra's five answers to this problem. Finally, it concludes that causal necessity contradicts man's free will and choice, so accepting man's choice necessitates causal necessity denial
B1-5802, agent by compulsion, causal necessity, free will, agent ‘from which comes existence’, creation of will, agent ‘by which there is existence’, Philosophy (General), the sequence of wills
B1-5802, agent by compulsion, causal necessity, free will, agent ‘from which comes existence’, creation of will, agent ‘by which there is existence’, Philosophy (General), the sequence of wills
| selected citations These citations are derived from selected sources. This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | 0 | |
| popularity This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network. | Average | |
| influence This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | Average | |
| impulse This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network. | Average |
