When I was a graduate student at Berkeley, an undergraduate born in Iran told me that the reason he wanted to someday earn a Ph.D. in philosophy was this: Professors are the most respected people in society, and philosophy professors are the most respected of all professors. (A Google search of his name now doesn't seem to return any philosophers.)
Just some food for thought as I prepare to board a big bird to China....
Friday, March 07, 2008
Is It Just Very Different in Iran?
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6 comments:
In the late 80's or early 90's the first woman to address Iran's (I believe it was the) national assembly was a philosopher. Apparently, because she was speaking as a philosopher, it also did not matter that she was a Jew. She did have to cover her hair though.
Really? That's pretty interesting. When was the last time a philosopher was given serious attention by the U.S. Senate or House? -- I mean, assuming he was not talking about baseball....
Actually, poets are national heroes in Iran. People can quote 1000-year old poetry by heart. They do so often when making a point during discussions, and they're not above making it up if necessary. Rumi, Saadi, Khayyam, etc.
I think he meant living people. There is little sense of awe about living poets, at least in America.
It would be good to mention some facts about philosophy in Iran:
1-The current chairman of the parliament is philosopher.The former chairman of the Parliament was philosopher(Both of them teach the philosophy of Kant in Tehran University).The current President of the Juditiary system is philosopher(he is expert in ethics and philosophy of language)The former president of Iran,Mohammad Khatami,has BA in Western philosophy.The brother of the supreme leader of iran,is one of the renown experts in the philosophy of Avicenna and Masha'.I think ,it is the effect of Platonic tradition here.
2-In Iran,there are especial interpretaions of western philosophers which are completely different with their real philosophies.For example two major groups of philosophers are Heideggerians and Popperians.There is hot debate between these groups about different subjects:Philosophy of science,philosophy of religion and political philosophy.In fact,just in Iran,the philosophy of Heidegger can conflict with the philosophy of Sir Karl Popper!!
Very interesting, Mustafa!
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