necessarily, since the imprinting of the form of the known object upon the soul is something positive and additional to the essence.”

[Al-Tūsī’s remarks in his Commentary on al-Ishārāt]

Al-Tūsī’s remarks in his Commentary on al-Ishārāt

In his commentary, al-Tūsī affirmed what al-Rāzī had stated and added to it, despite his frequent disagreements with al-Rāzī and his eagerness both to oppose him and to defend Ibn Sīnā. Nevertheless, when commenting on this section, he said:

“The objection may be stated as follows: you have stated that intelligibles become united neither with the intellect that apprehends them nor with one another. Rather, they are distinct, separate forms within the substance of that intellect. You have also stated that the First, the Necessary Existent, apprehends everything. His intelligibles are therefore distinct forms subsisting within His essence. This entails that the essence of the First, the Necessary Existent, is not truly one, but contains a multiplicity.”

He said:

“The clarification may be stated as follows: since the First apprehends His essence through His essence, and His essence is the cause of multiplicity, His apprehension of multiplicity necessarily follows from His apprehension of His essence through His essence. His apprehension of multiplicity is thus a concomitant known to Him. The forms of multiplicity, which are His intelligibles, are therefore His effects and concomitants, ordered as effects are ordered. They are consequently posterior to the reality of His essence, just as an effect is posterior to its cause. His essence is constituted neither by them nor by anything else; rather, it is one. The multiplicity of concomitants and effects does not conflict with the unity of the knowledge of them