Persian Philosophy
Iranian philosophy or Persian philosophy can be traced back as far as to Old Iranian philosophical traditions and thoughts which originated in ancient Indo-Iranian roots and were considerably influenced by Zarathustra's teachings. Throughout Iranian history and due to remarkable political and social changes such as the Macedonian, Arab and Mongol invasions of Persia a wide spectrum of schools of thoughts showed a variety of views on philosophical questions extending from Old Iranian and mainly Zoroastrianism-related traditions to schools appearing in the late pre-Islamic era such as Manicheism and Mazdakism as well as various post-Islamic schools. Iranian philosophy after Arab invasion of Persia, is characterized by different interactions with the Old Iranian philosophy, the Greek philosophy and with the development of Islamic philosophy. The Illumination School and the Transcendent Philosophy are regarded as two of the main philosophical traditions of that era in Persia.
Pre-Islamic Period
- Zarathustra and Zoroastrianism
- Avesta and Gathas
- Mani and Manicheism
- Mazdak and Mazdakism
Islamic Period
- Avicenna
- Farabi
- Imam Mohammad Ghazali Tusi
- Jurjani
- Kateb Qazwini
- Zakaria Razi
- Qutb-al-din Razi
- Fakhr al-Din Razi known as Imam Fakhr Razi
- Nasir al-Din Tusi
- Zakariya Qazwini
- Farid al-Din Attar (Attar Nishapuri)
- Umar Suhrawardi
- Umar Khayyam
- Semnani
- Ali Hamedani
- Mowlana Jalal ad-Din Balkhi (Rumi)
- Mahmud Shabestari
- Shams al-Din Lahiji
- Nematollah Vali Kermani
- Abdol-Rahman Jami
- Noor Ali Shah
- Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi and Illumination School
- Sadr al-Din Dashtaki Shiraz School
- Mir Damad and Isfahan School
- Mulla Sadra and Transcendent Philosophy
- Rajab Ali Tabrizi
- Qazi Sa’id Qumi
- Tehran School and Qom School
- Khorasan School
- Mulla Hadi Sabzevari and Neyshabor School
In the history of Islamic philosophy, there were few philosophers who had their own philosophy: Avecina, Farabi, Sohrevardi and Mulla sadra. Some philosophers did not offer a new philosophy, rather they had some innovations: Mirdamad, Khajeh Nasir and Qutb al-Din Shirazi belong to this group. Some philosophers had new narration of existing philosophies: Ali Modarres is an example of such philosophers.[1]
Zoroastrianism
The teachings of Zarathustra (Zoroaster) appeared in Persia at some point during the period between 1000-588 BCE. The Date and Teaching of Zarathustra, Numen Sep. 1957 His wisdom became the basis of the religion Zoroastrianism, and generally influenced the development of the Iranian branch of Indo-Iranian philosophy. Zarathustra was the first who treated the problem of evil in philosophical terms. He is also believed to be one of the oldest monotheists in the history of religion. He espoused an ethical philosophy based on the primacy of good thoughts (humata), good words (hukhata), and good deeds (hvarshatra).
Zarathustra was known as a sage, magician and miracle-worker in post-Classical Western culture, though almost nothing was known of his ideas until the late eighteenth century. By this time his name was associated with lost ancient wisdom and was appropriated by Freemasons and other groups who claimed access to such knowledge. He appears in Mozart's opera "Die Zauberflöte" under the variant name "Sarastro", who represents moral order in opposition to the "Queen of the Night". Enlightenment writers such as Voltaire promoted research into Zoroastrianism in the belief that it was a form of rational Deism, preferable to Christianity.
In 2005, the Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy ranked Zarathustra number two in the chronology of philosophical events. Zarathustra's impact lingers today due in part to the system of rational ethics he founded called Mazda-Yasna. The word Mazda-Yasna is avestan and is translated as "Worship of Wisdom" in English.
Throughout Iranian history, due to Greek and Arabic influence, a wide spectrum of schools of thoughts showed a variety of views on philosophical questions extending from Old Iranian and Zoroastrian traditions, to schools appearing in the late pre-Islamic era, to various Islamic schools. Iranian philosophy after the Arab invasion of Persia is characterized by different interactions with the Old Iranian philosophy with Greek and Islamic philosophy. The Illumination School and the Transcendent Philosophy are regarded as two of the main philosophical traditions of that era in Persia.
Manicheism
Manicheism, founded by Mani, was influential from North Africa in the West, to China in the East. Its influence subtly continues in Western Christian thought via Saint Augustine of Hippo, who converted to Christianity from Manichaeism, which he passionately denounced in his writings, and whose writings continue to be influential among Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox theologians. An important principle of Manicheism was its dualistic cosmology/theology, which it shared with Mazdakism, a philosophy founded by Mazdak. Under this dualism, there were two original principles of the universe: Light, the good one; and Darkness, the evil one. These two had been mixed by a cosmic accident, and man's role in this life was through good conduct to release the parts of himself that belonged to Light. Mani saw the mixture of good and bad as a cosmic tragedy, while Mazdak viewed this in a more neutral, even optimistic way.
Contemporary Iranian philosophy
Philosophy was and still is a popular subject of study in Iran. Previous to Western style universities, philosophy was a major field of study in religious seminaries. Comparing the number of philosophy books currently published in Iran with that in other countries, Iran possibly ranks first in this field but it is definitely on top in terms of publishing philosophy books. [2]
Perhaps some of the most notable Iranian philosophers and intellectuals of the twentieth century are: Dariush Shayegan, Hamid Dabashi, Morteza Motahhari, Mustafa Malekiyan, Javad Tabatabaei and Hossein Nasr. Some of the most notable contemporary university professors of philosophy are: Gholamreza Aavani, Reza Davari, Hamid Ayatollahi, Gholamhusayn Ibrahimi Dinani, Shahram Pazouki, Mohsen Javadi, Ahmad Fardid, Mohsen Kadivar, Mahmoud Khatami, and Ahmad Beheshti.
Among 20th century experts on traditional Islamic philosophy in Iranian seminaries, Allameh Tabatabaei, Hassan Hasanzadeh Amoli, Mohammad Taghi Jafari, Mehdi Elahi Ghomshei, Mehdi Haeri Yazdi, Jalaleddin Ashtiani and Ruhollah Khomeini have exerted considerable influence.
Differently, there are some contributions to the philosophy of science. Ali Eftekhari revisited the backbone of philosophy of science by diving into Boltzmann's works. He also tried to correlate ancient Persian thoughts with western philosophy of science.
Among journals being published in Iran on philosophy there is Hikmat va Falsafeh published by Allamah Tabataba'i University in Tehran, Ma'rifat-e Falsafeh published by the Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute in Qom, and many others. Also worthy of mention is the journal, Naqd o Nazar published by Daftar Tablighat in Qom, which often includes articles on philosophical topics and other issues of interest to religious thinkers and intellectuals.
However, it is important to note that Sufism has had a great amount of inluence on Iranian/Persian philosophy.
See also
- Intellectual Movements in Modern Iran
- Eastern philosophy
- Ancient philosophy
- Iranian traditional humanism
- Religious Intellectualism in Iran
External links
- Iranian philosophy (in Persian)
