Patterns of Wisdom in Safavid Iran

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.

• IntroductionChapter 1. School of Isfahan I: Mir Damad’s ‘Wisdom of the Right Side’Mir Damad’s Life and WorksPhilosophical DoctrineMetaphysics I. Making the QuidditiesMetaphysics II. Perpetuity and Perpetual InceptionPhysics: Perpetuity and MotionPsychology and EschatologyChapter 2. The Gnostic of Shiraz: Mulla Sadra’s ‘Transcendent Wisdom’Mulla Sadra’s Life and WorksKey Elements of the DoctrineThe Principality of Existence in respect to QuidditySystematic Ambiguity of ExistenceSubstantial MotionEschatologySummary of Sadra’s Doctrine: Eleven PremisesAddendum. Sadra and the StoicsChapter 3. School of Isfahan II: The Apophatic Wisdom of Rajab 'Ali TabriziRajab 'Ali Tabrizi’s Life and WorksPivotal Tenets: Principality of Thing and Homonymy of Existence'Ali Quli bin Qarachaghay Khan –The Perfecter of Tabrizi’s DoctrineChapter 4. A Comparative Analysis of the DoctrinesMir Damad and Mulla Sadra, Mir Damad and Rajab 'Ali TabriziMulla Sadra and Rajab 'Ali TabriziConclusionBibliography