Abstract

A study of Mulla Sadra and Bergson's views concerning motion and an analysis of the similarities between their ideas reveal that, in spite of the differences among their interpretations of the issue, their language and their cultural outlooks, unlike Plato and his followers, who believed that the reality hidden behind the world of appearances is timeless and unchanging, both Mulla Sadra and Bergson believed that the ultimate metaphysical reality can only be found in what is permanently in motion. In Mulla Sadra's view, the reality hidden behind all appearances and phenomena of the world of matter is a fluid existence that is always moving between the present and the future: an existence which is always in motion and renewal. Another conclusion of the above studies is that, unlike the common tradition in philosophy that sees the intellect and intellection as the keys to attaining the ultimate reality hidden behind sense perception, according to Mulla Sadra and Bergson, the key to reaching this reality is intuition. Meanwhile, both of them believe that the realities of time and motion have an unbreakable unity with each other; they are, in fact, one thing from which two concepts are abstracted in the process of mental analysis.