Rereading Mulla Sadra’s Ethical Theory on the Basis of Contemporary “Virtue Ethics”

Abstract

The concern of attaining the moral truth and action was important for Mulla Sadra. The goal of this article is to investigate and evaluate the correspondence between his ethical theory and the contemporary Virtue Ethics. The analysis of the features of Virtue Ethics on the one hand and exploring Mulla Sadra’s ethical theory on the other, demonstrates that Virtue Ethics is dominant in his moral paradigms. In this paper, amongst the pieces of evidence which are accessible in his works, I have considered some factors that work as an argument for Virtue Ethics. First, like other virtue ethicists, Mulla Sadra considers virtue as the ultimate goal of human being. Secondly, he emphasizes “being” rather than mere activity. Thirdly, according to him, virtue is worthy in itself. Besides, he does not restrict the ethical life to the mere rational rules. For him, the moral exemplars are the true models for a virtuous life. Furthermore, it is necessary for achieving an ethical life to develop virtues both in mental states and in corporal actions.

Keywords

• mullasadra
• virtue ethics
• moral agent