Philosophy of Science in Iran

Abstract

First steps are taken in the following toward the study of present‐day philosophy of science in Iran, by choosing various examples in the hope of showing that philosophy of science in Iran has emerged predominantly as an apologetic and ideological discourse. I start by pointing out the complexities of method in such a study. I then criticise two writing samples by two well‐known Iranian scholars, which exemplify the first Iranian reaction to logical positivism. The study continues with a survey of the mistakes in the Persian translation of T. S. Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, a study of the status of research in philosophy of science in Iran, and a critique of attempts by Iranian scholars at indigenising philosophy of science through the reconciliation of modern science with Islamic faith.

Acknowledgements

The writing of this paper would have been impossible without the kind help of many people. Thanks are especially due to Dr. McAllister for his encouragement and advice, to Dr. Paya for useful discussions on some parts of the paper and his kind guidance and friendly support, and to Dr. Vahid for his response to my letter and his kind permission to reproduce here some lines of his response.

Notes

[1] In a recent interview with Paya, Soroush says, ‘The contents of the book are original for the Iranian reader. Because of this it has been and still is useful.’

[2] The following survey of Aram’s translation is mainly based on Heydari (2000).

[3] By acquire (kasb) we here mean to learn from others.

[4] The analysis in the following lines of this section is the result of the author’s correspondence with Dr. Vahid. With his kind permission, some sentences in this and the following paragraphs and all sentences in the penultimate paragraph of this section are repeated verbatim from Dr. Vahid’s letter.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ali Akbar Navabi

Ali Akbar Navabi is at the Department of Philosophy, University of Sydney.