A Sadrian Explanation of the Impact of Physical Readiness on the Perfection of the Soul in the Light of Substantial Motion and Cognitive Neuroscience

Dualistic approaches, especially Descartes's essentialist dualism, which divided the world into two distinct spheres of "thinking substance" and "extended substance", have led to undeniable theoretical dead ends in the interaction and causal relationship between these two spheres. Transcendental wisdom, by basing its philosophical system on principles such as "the originality of existence", "doubt in the levels of existence", "essential movement", "the unity of the rational and the intelligible", and "the physicality of occurrence and the spirituality of the soul's permanence", has transformed the opposing duality between soul and body into a hierarchical and organic unity, in which the body is neither an alien thing, nor a prison for the soul, nor a mere passive instrument, but rather a "lower level of the soul's existence", a "compound" and a "bed of movement". Therefore, any qualitative change in the body, especially through concrete and observable processes such as “physical fitness,” cannot remain unaffected by the levels and powers of the soul. This article, by utilizing the analytical and explanatory capacities of transcendental wisdom, and by systematically linking its deep philosophical concepts with the empirical and interdisciplinary findings of cognitive neuroscience, exercise physiology, and psychology, deals with the philosophical analysis of the mechanisms of the influence of “physical fitness” on the process of “self-improvement.” The main hypothesis of this research is that physical fitness, through three existential and intertwined mechanisms, plays a role directly and indirectly in the process of self-improvement. The first is the adjustment and refinement of the material base, which, by focusing on the concept of the "soul of the body" and its functional adaptation to the complex system of "psychology-nerves-endocrine-immunology," explains how physical fitness, by refining and optimizing the physiological and nervous base, removes perceptual and practical obstacles from the path of self-management and provides a more favorable environment for the emergence of self-perfections. The second is the spread of perfection in intensity, which, relying on the principle of "organizational unity of existence" and "substantial movement of intensity," shows how existential perfections achieved at the level of the body "infect" existentially to higher levels of the self, leading to the strengthening and intensification of powers such as willpower, patience, courage, and moderation of emotions.