Iranian philosophy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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.

Zarathustra and Zoroastrianism
Avesta and Gathas
Mani and Manicheism
Mazdak and Mazdakism
Avicenna
Farabi
Al-Jurjani
Kateb-e-Qazwini
Qutb-al-din Razi
Fakhr al-Din Razi
Zakariya Qazwini
Attar Neyshaburi
Umar Suhrawardi
Simnani
Ali Hamedani
Mowlana Jalal ad-Din Rumi
Mahmud Shabestari & Shams al-Din Lahiji
Ne’matollah Vali Kermani
Jami
Manouchehreh Jamali
Noor Ali Shah
(Khaajeh) Nasir al-Din Tusi
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
Relational Philosophy and Ardeshir Sepahsalar
Mulla Hadi Sabzevari and Neyshabor School

In the history of Islamic phisophy, 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 Ghotboddin Shirazi belong to this group. Some philosophers had new narration of existing philosophies: Ali Modarres is an example of such philosophers.[1]

[edit] Contemporary Iranian philosophy

Philosophy has become a popular subject of study during last few decades in Iran. 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 the most notable Iranian philosopher of the twentieth century are: Dariush Shayegan, Abdolkarim Soroush, Morteza Motahhari, Mustafa Malekiyan, Javad Tabatabaei, Ali Shariati 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, Mohsen Kadivar, Mahmoud Khatami, and Ahmad Beheshti.

Among experts on traditional Islamic philosophy in the seminaries of Qom, Allameh Tabatabaei and Ruhollah Khomeini have exerted considerable influence; while Muhammad Taqi Misbah Yazdi, Abdollah Javadi Amoli, Sadegh Larijani, and Ahmad Ahmadi are the most prominent today.