An Analysis of the Criterion of quiddity in Islamic Philosophy

Despite the wide range of philosophical discussions in the field of essence and its rulings, there is no coherent work on the criterion of the essence of objects, and such a question has not been raised in the texts of Islamic philosophy, while the words of philosophers on this subject are confused and contradictory, and no single criterion can be derived from it. "Possibility", "existence", "existential independence", "non-independence", "impossibility of knowledge" and "existential identity" are among the criteria that can be found in philosophical sources regarding the essence of objects. With the aim of discovering the criterion of the quiddity of things, the present article attempts to analyze the opinions of Islamic philosophers using a descriptive and analytical method and identify the origin of the difference, and then, by criticizing and examining these opinions and in the light of the philosophical thought of Allameh Tabataba'i, to reach a new opinion and criterion on this subject. The findings of this research show that quiddity is a false image, an illusion, and a valid subject that arises from the interaction of the mind and the object, and the criterion of the quiddity of things is the valid existence or the validity of existence. According to Mukhtar's theory, all levels of existence, including God, have quiddity.