From the Realm of Light to the Horizon of Phenomenon: An Analytical Approach to the Foundations of Perception in Suhrawardi and Husserl

Author
Seyed Sadegh Zamani
Department of Philosophy of Art, Sa.C., Islamic Azad University, Sanandaj, Iran.
Abstract
The question concerning the nature of perception is a fundamental issue in both the Illuminationist philosophy of Suhrawardi and Husserl's transcendental phenomenology. This study, through an analytical-comparative methodology, aims to demonstrate that perception in both traditions is not a mental representation but rather an ontological and immediate event of presence. In Suhrawardi’s philosophy, light-as the self-subsisting truth-is the condition of possibility for knowledge, and perception is interpreted as a luminous unification between the knower and the known. Conversely, Husserl conceives perception as a directed structure of consciousness through which the phenomenon appears in the mode of Gegebenheit (givenness). The findings suggest that light in Suhrawardi's metaphysics and intentionality in Husserl's phenomenology both function as mediating structures in the process of manifestation. Thus, true cognition in both systems is attained through the intuitive presence of truth within consciousness, rather than through mere conceptual analysis.

Keywords

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Philosophical Thought
Volume 5, Issue 3 - Serial Number 19
Spring 2025
Pages 1001-1018