Ali Rezaee; Mehran Rezaee
Abstract
This study adopts an analytical and comparative approach to examine the concept of happiness (saʿāda) in the thought of Mullā Ṣadrā and Lorin Besser, aiming to show how these ...
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This study adopts an analytical and comparative approach to examine the concept of happiness (saʿāda) in the thought of Mullā Ṣadrā and Lorin Besser, aiming to show how these two theoretical frameworks—despite their fundamental differences in metaphysical foundations and methodological orientations—offer distinct yet structurally comparable accounts of human flourishing and well-being. Within Transcendent Philosophy (al-ḥikma al-mutaʿāliyya), happiness is conceived as an ontological reality grounded in substantial motion, the intensification of being, and the unity of intellect, intellector, and intellected. Human perfection is thus realized through knowledge, rational contemplation, and the acquisition of virtues, guiding the soul toward ultimate truth. By contrast, Besser understands happiness as a eudaimonic concept rooted in human flourishing, emerging through interpersonal relationships, experiential self-knowledge, and the actualization of individual capacities. Drawing on positive psychology, he interprets happiness as a this-worldly phenomenon dependent upon life satisfaction, flourishing, and subjective well-being. The findings of this study indicate that both thinkers link happiness to the notion of development or perfection; however, while Mullā Ṣadrā frames this development within a metaphysical hierarchy of being, Besser articulates it through an empirical, psychological, and earth-centered perspective. Consequently, by elucidating both the structural affinities and the foundational divergences between these two intellectual systems, this research opens a new avenue for dialogue between philosophical theology and contemporary psychology.
