Abstract

The human being is a free agent endowed with the capacity to ascend to the highest levels of perfection. Thinkers in philosophical anthropology have advanced diverse views concerning the fundamental needs and prerequisites of the perfection of the human soul. The present study aims to articulate, from the perspectives of Mullā Ṣadrā and Maslow, the fundamental needs and prerequisites of the perfection of the human soul, and to compare the views of these two thinkers. The research method is analytical and comparative. According to the findings, in Maslow’s view human needs are divided into two categories—deficiency needs, such as the need for food, and being needs, such as truth‑seeking—and a kind of longitudinal hierarchy obtains among human needs. In Ṣadrian thought, by contrast, in order to attain true perfection, the human being must, on the one hand, satisfy the needs of the lower levels of the vegetative and animal soul, and on the other hand, given the principiality of the spiritual dimension, the most fundamental needs pertain to the spiritual dimension. In order to move along the most essential levels of transcendence, the human being must recognise the fundamental needs of the human soul and satisfy them. The prerequisites of human perfection at the level of the human soul are divided into six categories: (1) attainment of divine sciences; (2) performance of elevating deeds; (3) love and longing; (4) faith; (5) a guide for the journey; and (6) the assistance of God and the Active Intellect. Ṣadrā’s emphasis on moderation among the various human faculties, the dominance of the human soul, the division of needs into those of the vegetative, animal, and human souls, and the preference for human and metaphysical needs are among the most distinctive features of Ṣadrian thought, which set his thinking apart from that of Maslow.