Al-Farabi and Cultural Policy-Making
A. Morovat; R. Mahoozi
Abstract
Farabi's philosophy, in the most accurate meaning, is a problem-oriented and worldly philosophy. This statement is against the claim that Farabi's philosophy is completely abstract and unrelated to the concrete issues of his life, or even if he believes in such a connection, the proposed philosophical ...
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Farabi's philosophy, in the most accurate meaning, is a problem-oriented and worldly philosophy. This statement is against the claim that Farabi's philosophy is completely abstract and unrelated to the concrete issues of his life, or even if he believes in such a connection, the proposed philosophical model is considered to be fundamentally unrealizable in this world and that philosophy in many aspects i.e. anthropology, politics, ethics, etc., is considered to be the highest part of a person's soul. In contrast to this claim, which has many supporters, this article claims that not only Farabi's philosophy is basically born from the concrete political, religious, cultural and social contexts of his lifetime, but his solution to the problems of the time, unlike other one-sided solutions, is based on the distinct but related ideal-real duality. According to the latter aspect, Farabi tried to bring together the ancient tradition and the contemporary requirements and to help the intellectuals of the world solve the problems of the Islamic society of his time. In this article, while analyzing these fields including Farabi's response to the issues and crises of the time, it tries to propose this way as a model for philosophical thinking and cultural policy-making, which recognizes the two real and ideal situations at the same time.
Higher Education
R. Mahoozi
Abstract
Development, in a new purport, requires its own special culture; in a way that it arises from within a particular culture and the same is its backer and supporter. Based on this statement, any state that pursues one of the forms of this development, it must inevitably also provide its cultural context ...
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Development, in a new purport, requires its own special culture; in a way that it arises from within a particular culture and the same is its backer and supporter. Based on this statement, any state that pursues one of the forms of this development, it must inevitably also provide its cultural context otherwise; development turns into its antithesis. But development-oriented cultural transformation is sometimes accompanied by the omission of some of the pre-existing cultural variables. Cultural anthropology - a study of culture in general meaning – is in the process to recognize, on the one hand, the plurality of cultures by accepting the principle of cultural relativism, and the other hand, consider cultural necessities of development based on a new wave of development and requirement with a value-based approach. With a new branch of anthropology called developmental anthropology, this study with the help of the logic of the lower natives, tries to challenge the developmental elites and make them aware of the consequences of their hasty decisions. In other words, this article intends to analyze the challenge of cultural anthropology and propose some solutions. Today, anthropology seeks to bridge multiple realities of the human world on the one hand, and preserve cultural pluralism as a source of cultural creativity on the other.
Philosophy of Education
R. Mahoozi
Abstract
The issue as why and how the modern educational system of Iran that simultaneously kicked off with the establishment of Dār-al-Funun (the Academy of Arts ) in 1941 could gradually come under the dominance of the French educational system but fell into the domain of nationalism in the late Qajar period ...
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The issue as why and how the modern educational system of Iran that simultaneously kicked off with the establishment of Dār-al-Funun (the Academy of Arts ) in 1941 could gradually come under the dominance of the French educational system but fell into the domain of nationalism in the late Qajar period and throughout the first Pahlavi era, and that, when and to what extent these two formal and content areas could involve the modern educational system of Iran is the subject the author intends to show their connection through historical sources as well as documents and analyses in this domain. To respond to the aforementioned questions, it is essential to know which of the characteristics of the French educational system was associated with patriotic tendencies of Iranians in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which, too, were not unaffected by transformations in Europe and West Asia. This article will show Iran’s internal requirements, including domestic and border security, cultural and economic transformation as well as medical necessities, along with the historical context of Iranians' attention towards France and its well-known revolution, during Ahmad Shah Qajar, a period also known for the constitutional consolidation. To bring into account the political, cultural, and economic system led to the fact that the central government should realize the aspiration of constitutionalists by adopting cultural unification under the idea of national unity and the plan of modernity, with the help of two tools i.e. modern education and bureaucracy.
