QARBSHENASI-YE BONYADI (OCCIDENTAL STUDIES)
Year:2010 | Volume:1 | Issue:1|Papers Count:7

This article has been arranged to discuss Leo Strauss’ hermeneutical principles and their impacts on his political thought as well as his reading of Plato in two parts: 1. Strauss’ hermeneutics, and 2. Strauss’ political view. His believes that philosophers have introduced their teachings in a mysterious way, and their fear of prosecution prevents ordinary study of their works. And all that has been said, in the name of philosophy, of their works is a noble lie which philosophers had to say to people. In secret, they had other beliefs which they did not wish to reveal for other than their own friends. As a matter of fact, Strauss is an enemy of philosophy as it is taught in universities. In this article, the author has criticized this view seriously and logically. Strauss has been motivated to approach Plato’s works because of crisis in the West. Concerning justice as discussed in Plato’s Republic, Strauss thinks that Thrasymachus’ view is reasonable, and he is of the opinion that “justice is the advantage of the stronger” (338c). He thinks that Socrates’ defense against this view is an incomplete one and Socrates had been of the same opinion with Thracymachus.

Along with the beginning of the movement of translation, Muslims began to get familiar with the ideas of Greek philosophers. It may be said that more than all other philosophers, it was Socrates who was paid attention to. The earlier Muslim philosophers such as al-Kindi and al-Farabi were familiar with the Greek inheritance, and it is evident that they were influenced by Aristotle in various disciplines like logic, metaphysics, physics, psychology, and ethics. But, it should be noted that politics is the only discipline in which Muslims' familiarity with Aristotle's works is dubitable. Thus, it is difficult to speak about Aristotle's impacts on the development of political thoughts of Muslim philosophers. According to some researchers, impacts of the Greek inheritance on politics in the Islamic age is restricted to those of Plato and some other philosophers before him, in this regard, they deny Aristotle's impacts on the ideas of Muslims thinkers. Since the subject matter of the present writing hinges directly on solving this problem, in the introduction, the author will provide a historical discussion in this concern, and in what follows, accepting Aristotle's impact on Muslim philosophers, he will discuss this impact till the age of Ibn Rushd and some other distinct Muslim philosophers who have somehow discussed politics.

"The western world" is a new term which has not been used by Ibn Khaldun at all. This does not mean, however, that Ibn Khaldun had no idea of the relative unity of what we call today the western world. Elsewhere, in another study, the author of the present article has shown that Ibn Khaldun thought of what we call today the western world as a united world and mentioned it as "the northern world". The present article presupposes this point, and will use some methodological considerations to discuss his familiarity with this united world, since Ibn Khaldun is a methodology-sensitive thinker, and this distinguishes him from other thinkers and authors of the pre-modern world. In the present article, the author will try to analyze general points concerning the way Ibn Khaldun got familiar with the so-called western world and its indications, and recognize and refer Tarikh al-'ibar and its valuable introduction as the main sources for such familiarity.

In the present article, the authors aim to study Karl Raymond Popper's theory of democracy and evaluate its philosophical and epistemological foundations. The importance of this discussion lies in showing the logical relation of and consistency between Popper's scientific-philosopher principles and doctrines inferred from them on the one hand and his model of democracy on the other. Thus, the authors try, employing a descriptive-analytic methodology, to describe and explain foundations and goals of democracy and its distinct theoretical components on the basis of Popper's theoretical suppositions. Finding of the present study show that Popper has ingeniously based his political epistemological understandings on his own scientific and philosophical principles, and extended their contents to cover democracy.

To revive man's values which were lost in the Medieval Age under hierarchical despotism of the Church, the humanist movement in the European Renaissance found the golden age of ancient Greece as the best example for dignation of man. To design the western modernity, it made many uses of mythical literature, and, influenced by the Greek myths, shaped the humanist foundations of the modern West. The present article, will trace some humanist aspects (epistemology, psychology, and theology) of the western modernity back in myths.

Along with the modern age, "conflict between religions" has been introduced as a philosophical problem for which various solutions have been provided in accord to different views of thinkers. The present writing goes to criticize one of such solutions posed by the contemporary English philosopher, John Hick. While avoiding repetitions, the present article will describe the main reasons behind inefficiency of this solution, and criticizes it from epistemological, empirical, philosophical, and theological viewpoints. The present article will show that to confront various cultures, their main principles cannot be ignored and, if ingnored, which challenges we will have to face.

The question posed in the present article is that, in spite of the claim posed by Fukuyama himself, how much his "end of history" may be of a Hegelian origin. In this article, as an introduction, some points will be discussed concerning "end" including "end of history", then, Fukuyama's idea will be discussed on the basis of his The End of History and the Last Man. Then, as required by the context of article, the author will reflect upon Kojeve's interpretation of Hegel, finally, he will return to the main question of the article, criticize Fukuyama's claim for Hegelian origin, and mention differences between him and Hegel.