دکتر میثم سفیدخوش

Fichte's Die Bestimmung des Menschen was published during a pivotal moment in his intellectual life and sparked significant challenges within the philosophical culture of Germany. Shortly before this, Fichte had written a book titled Die Bestimmung des Gelehrten, indicating the historical context of an important literary genre in the late 18th and early 19th century in Germany, characterized by the active participation of prominent philosophers and thinkers. In this article, we first aim to explore this historical context to ascertain the tradition within which Fichte's work was written. Subsequently, we will critically evaluate both the English translations and, specifically, the sole Persian translation of this book from various perspectives, assessing their quality and examining their relationship with the genre of the vocational. Our findings indicate that Fichte's work is directly connected to the tradition through two currents: Popularphilosophie and the atheism debate. Furthermore, it becomes evident that most translations, both in English and Persian, have sacrificed the academic aspect of Fichte's book for its popular appeal. Thus, while they relate to the tradition of the vocational genre without necessarily referencing it explicitly, they do not adequately reflect its academic value.

Rhetoric, being among five arts of logic (i.e., Sana’at Khams), is a persuasive yet uncertain art. However, philosophers consider it as a non-philosophical and invalid art. In such a view, this art has no philosophical value and its users seek to deceive and influence the audience in order to attract their attention, so logical speech must be de-rhetorical. The study of early philosophers, especially Aristotle, shows that rhetoric is not one of the branches of uncertain logic, but it is a political tool and is a complementary art in practical philosophy, and because practical philosophy is one of the branches of philosophy, it is also related to philosophy. Plato considered rhetoric to be against the politics of society. Aristotle, also under the influence of Plato, first criticized the common discourse of his time, which relied on the Forensic type and sophistic method. Then, he tries to teach a desirable version of rhetoric for the prosperity of society, considering the necessity of rhetoric in political societies. Aristotle uses enthymeme to relate rhetoric to premises and to highlight its political nature by emphasizing the deliberative rhetoric. This study aims to investigate this proposition in Aristotle’s thoughts, and clarify the political implications of rhetoric.

The process of transversal legislative revelation of the treatise is consistent with five concepts in Ibn Arabi's mystical system. The main issue in this article is what these concepts are and how to consolidate them into the process of revelation of the Prophet in the complex and intertwined network of fluid concepts of Ibn Arabi's epistemology. The approaches obtained in this research show that the five concepts of "minute", "dilution", "soul", "light" and "tip" are focused on each other in the process of revelation and complement each other. The minute positioning and determination of both sides of the main negativity provides the possibility of any awareness and emergence, such as the possibility of the emergence of legal awareness and revelation of the treatise. Thinning is the radius of the data of the nominal truths which performs the illumination of the illumination. Dilution is the radius of the data of the nominal truths which performs the illumination of the brightness and in the process of revelation, determines and mediates the names involved in revelation, that is, life, light, wise, sage, speaker, hearer, and seer at the source of the eternity of the heart. The soul is the same as the derivatives of the divine names (truth), especially the name of revelation, which mediates the determination of the truth of the invisible and reasonable, but effective name of revelation in the eyes of the nobles, especially the heart of the prophet. And light is the illumination of the truth of the name of light, which has the aspect of revealing the essence for itself and, consequently, for the manifestations of itself, and its string-like radii make it pos.

Spirituality and meaningfulness of life is an issue that has pitted two traditional religious thoughts and the modern secular world against each other. The basic question is, "Is spirituality achieved only through religion, or is it possible to live a meaningful life in a secular society?" Religious spirituality relies on the immaterial world and spiritual affairs and can include moral values, religion, sacred or occult matters, mysticism, etc. or any kind of spiritual and spiritual state in life. Secular meaningfulness is focused on the point that meaningful life is the result of rationality, which is achieved as a result of free, conscious, voluntary and purposeful human action, and its fruit should be the improvement of human's worldly life conditions. With this understanding, it becomes clear that there is a fundamental difference between the two categories of religiosity and spirituality, as if spirituality can be separated from religiosity. The difference between religiosity and spirituality is that if religiosity is not out of servitude, it is not religiosity; But if spirituality comes from servitude, it is not spirituality. What secularism claims to try to realize is purifying human thoughts from superstitions and deviations.

The contingent is always a kind of menace for metaphysical systems. Kant uses die Zufälligkeit, and we first must consider its implications in his theoretical philosophy in order to find his position on the menace of contingency for the system of science (Wissenschaft). Our study shows that Kant has in different occasions used this term (die Zufälligkeit) in some different but related meanings; Tracing Kant’s usage of the term through its Critique of pure Reason, this paper examines how Kant have confronted to the situation of the accidental in the necessary system of science. The conclusion is that Kant does not resolve this tension, because on the one hand he ignores contingency in favor of necessity, and claims that a system as a pure science required to avoid from the contingency in his transcendental system; and on the other hand, he gives a place to contingency in order to be able to explain how reason progresses in its series of dialectical inferences. Therefore, Kant only has dissolved and not solved the crucial tension, and its sublimation is possible only through another non-Kantian models of dialectic.

In the modern era the concept of history, which had found prominence beyond a series of events, came as the subject of contemplation of Iranian thinkers like Morteza Motahhari. Influenced by Romantic thoughts, he believed that history has evolutionary movement and he tried to express that movement according to what he called the "Islamic worldview”. In this explanation, The Qur’anic concept of "khalifatollah" (i.e. divine caliphate of man) and also the two concepts of cosmic and legislative plans for man's adaptation to the movement of history are prominent. Man, as the divine caliph on earth, is responsible for making history. But in order not to go astray in this act of construction, two cosmic and legislative plans have been set for him as both his guide and his evaluator in this way. The study of Morteza Motahhari's statements on the above-mentioned concepts shows that in many of his discussions he introduces the concept of evils and tries to clarify their relation with his evolutionary plan. In this article, we investigate the relationship between evil and the movement of history based on the view of Morteza Motahhari. Initial study shows that Motahhari, by linking the philosophy of history to the evils, provides a kind of "historical practical theology" in which the divine will is linked to the human will to determine the movement of history.

The basis of the theory of secularism is that as modernity progresses (a set of phenomena including science, technology, and rational forms of authority), the influence of religion gradually diminishes, but Charles Taylor argues that the modern world not only hasn’t destroyed religion, but also in many cases, has led to its growth and development. The book "The Secular Age" is a detail of his views on secularism. Taylor talks about situations in the past where belief in God was pervasive, but things developed in such a way that belief in God became an option among other options. He describes the process of spreading secularism in the new West and what has happened to religion. In this process, for the religious, "God" and for the non-religious, "reason" describes perfection. This article, with a brief look at Taylor's work, examines the movement of the West (Western Europe and North America) from religious societies to secular societies, and after analyzing Taylor's theory of secularism, critiques and summarizes his ideas.

As Kierkegaard has explained, humankind’s pain is recognized with its individuality. But, what happens for the pain during a prevalent disaster, and what changes does it go through? Is generality of a disaster can always help anyone to endure the pain? Does the generality leave any room for help to those who are all affected? Is there no difference among all kinds of pains in terms of their requirements for enduring or overcoming the individual pain? Such questions lead us to reconsider the relationship between the individuality of pain and the generality of calamity based on Kierkegaard’s meditations, especially because he himself did not engage this issue exactly. In his book, Sickness unto death, signed by a pseudonym called Anti-Climacus, as a representative of a special existential condition, he take a look on the meaning of pain that is deeply related to concept of despair, which is the basis of our analysis. In this article, by using an approach we call it as “Anti-Climacian”, we conclude that the individuality of pain in the context of a general disaster may prevent the alone person form pursuing a three-staged dialectical movement to set free from despair

The aim of this study is to review the critical themes on Hegelian education based on the concept of education in Hegelian Phenomenology. For this purpose, this research has reviewed the critiques of Hegelian education by Conceptual Analysis method. "Normative education with emphasis on both teaching and learning poles" and "Rejecting the absolute freedom in education", are among the strengths reviewed. Education in Hegel's Phenomenology is based on the interaction of two poles of teaching and learning in order to achieve the desirable educational aims. Therefore the absolute/ negative freedom of individuals for respect to norms and educational values gives its place to positive freedom. "Totalitarianism in education" and "Ambiguity on freedom in childhood education", are two weaknesses in Hegel's education that have critically been reviewed. With this interpretation that totalitarianism in education does not only mean ignoring the other, but also the wisdom in Hegel is intertwined with the idea of the other and it develops by this interaction with others. However, the concept of freedom in childhood for recognizing the totality of the wisdom requires a reconstructive interpretation of Hegelian education.

After highlighting the importance of social mission in Humboldtian university idea, this article will inquire about the relation between this mission and human agency. To do this we employ a more deduction philosophical analysis method. Clarifying the meaning of the social mission of the university, which we use here, will be the first step. According to this criterion, in the second step, we will read out the social mission of this idea. The base for this part is more the Fichte and Humboldt's texts. Finding the main elements of human agency and its relation to this idea of the university will be the main step. In this case, results show, without considering the human agency, the expansion of cultivating in society and promoting the ethical culture of a nation, will be not possible. Furthermore, it seems the main phenomenon of the human agency should be considered in the social mission of this idea, as far as we could say they are too interdependent and linked to each other. Refer to some reasons why this idea is still alive and introduce some dimensions of our society, will be present in the last section.

The purpose of this research is to express the definition, aim, and conceptual components of education based on the process of formation of knowledge in Hegel's phenomenology. The definition of education is not possible without regard to the nature of knowledge, and educational ideas assume explicitly or implicitly a definition of knowledge. So this article was based on Hegel's theory of knowledge for the exploration of the nature and conceptual components of education. For this purpose, the methods of "concept interpretation" and "concept development" have been used. The research findings are as follows. "Bildung" as a definition of education is described as a process that seeks to promote the conceptual experience of pupils by understanding the inequities in their own lives which involve a movement from the past towards a rational future. The aim of education is formulated as "Reconciliatory Comprehensive Rationality." Then, the conceptual components of education were extracted as being "freedom-based", "historical", "Reconstructive", "Interactive", "Recognitional", "Error-tolerant" etc. Education as Bildung can inspire a new stream in the educational studies in Iran, which would promote the experience of human wisdom in the history and culture of this country.

Walter Benjamin, the famous German Philosopher and a Literature critic, had published some articles separately which were compiled and translated into English in the form of a selection titled: Illuminations. In 2014, a book under the title of The Selection Works of Benjamin Walter with a Persian translation was published by Nashre Elm. It is claimed inadequately that the five articles in this book are translations of the same five articles from the English Selection. We studied this work by finding the English text claimed to be translated by the Persian translator and some other sources that had not been mentioned. Despite the Content Analysis of the Benjamin’s articles, we compared the Persian translation with the original text to find out the accuracy of this translation. We concluded that the translation is full of formal and content problems which it does not succeed to deserve the title of translation of the regarded articles. It also does not qualify to be considered an academic and a scientific textbook, and even it is not proper for general use; nevertheless, it is valuable to attend these kinds of works. However, the translator should at least have considered the scientific patterns so that this attempt would be useful.

The theories of Bildung are among the most extensive theories in German thought. An illustration of Bilung is given by Wilhelm von Humboldt in the concept of university named after him as “Humboldtian University”. A certain anthropological framework plays an important role in this idea. The main purpose of this article is to, firstly, explain and identify the basic components of this framework. The next step is showing the relationship between these components and the pillars of the idea of a Humboldtian university. The results show that "human" in Humboldt's thought is not a predetermined being, rather the ideal of humanity will be raised through humans' purposeful and ongoing actions. Essentially, it depends - more than anything else - on the principle of freedom, the expansion of situations/ situations and empowerment conditions in an inclusive interactive context with the (non-human) world. It is also the achievement of a balanced and homogenous personality that this theory represents for human beings. In addition, the achievement of Bildung in the social field is the promotion of popular culture, which will bring it to the attention of the whole community. It is shown that Humboldt’s idea of the university also includes such features. The result of this research is expected to increase our insight into the theoretical foundations of one of the famous university ideals, the Humboldtian ideal, of which we as yet have paid little attention

Schleiermacher's concept of feeling of absolute dependence was the starting point for discussions about religious experience among modern scholars. As the purpose of the religious experience debates in the contemporary, analytic philosophy of religion is to provide an empirical argument for the existence of God, many scholars have expected the feeling of absolute dependence in Schleiermacher’s Christian Faith had to serve the same metaphysical or onto-theological purpose. Are this expectation and its respective interpretations consistent with what we read in Schleiermacher’s Christian Faith? To clarify this, we have used a historical and hermeneutical method in this study. The application of our historical method guides us to Kant’s influence on Schleiermacher, and we will see that most of his concepts are actually Kantian. The application of the hermeneutic method also allows us to consider the feeling of absolute dependence in the light of Schleiermacher's theology as a whole, as well as the concept of religion in the Kant's philosophical system as a whole. Criticizing the dominant understanding of the concept of religious experience in Schleiermacher, this paper will suggest, instead of an ontotheological reading, that the feeling of absolute dependence is only a description of self-consciousness, which does not provide us with any proof for the existence of God.

In this essay, at first, we will discuss Heidegger's notions on the main crisis of Western academy raised after the First World War. Heidegger thinks that such a crisis is the effect of ‘theoretical approach’, which dominates natural sciences, and its transmission to other disciplines. Secondly, the Heidegger's analysis on the basis of the theoretical approach is examined and we argue how a theory is primarily derived from de-vivification and formalization of ‘live situations’. These subjects can be studied by emphasis on the Freiburg 1919 lecture-courses. Young Heidegger believes that science is a live practice which is based on an existential encounter with the world. In this context, every scientific practice must be viewed and interpreted in its life-context. This theoretical encounter is originated from an ingenuous and pre-theoretical encounter. Drawing on a schematic figure, we will show how through a multi-levels process, the situational is transformed to the theoretical.

The discussion of will and its relationship with the problem of evil has an important position in Augustine’s thought. He was a legatee of the stoics in this realm, but he later formulated it with a new Platonic schema. It has been claimed that he considered evil as non-entity, and with regard to moral evil, he viewed evil as the lack of good will. Therefore, will is divided into good and evil. The main point, in this narrative, is that although good will has an existential cause, bad will lacks existential cause. Therefore, its cause is the avoidance of good will and deeds. Apparently, Augustine’s platonic response to the problem of evil has encountered a dilemma. The dilemma consists in compromising the freedom of human will and its relationship with the concept of God’s grace and mercy. Drawing on Augustine’s texts, particularly City of God and the treatise On Free Will and the essay About the Nature of Good, we try first to present a formulation of Augustinian theory concerning the relationship between will and evil; then, we demonstrate the problematic relationship between free will and divine grace in the Augustinian’s narrative of the problem of evil. Apparently the very issue has forced Augustine to formulate his Platonic theory of evil.  

Hegel defines phenomenology as the knowledge of experiencing awareness. The ultimate goal of this field of study seems to be establishing that philosophy is a science by conceptually ‘phenomenalising’ the necessary steps to be taken in this course. Phenomenological establishment of the idea that philosophy is a science will involve phenomenological settling of a key question which has at least three sub-questions, one of which is the question of meaningfulness of life. In its complicated course of growth and development, awareness is depicted as a traveller who is broadening his experiences, who uses these experiences to critically survey his nature, meaning, course and goal, and who, acknowledging his weaknesses, continues his journey to overcome them. The journey on the whole is about finding the true meaning through developing into the ultimate awareness. Meanwhile, however, concepts like meaninglessness, absurdity and the like are among the many waypoints through which awareness navigates, at least as a swift pass, to reach the destination. The present paper considers the multi-layered course of the history of the Hegelian phenomenology to look at it within the domain of the concept of meaningfulness of life, providing a new reading of the phenomenological journey of awareness as it would relate to that concept. The paper raises the question as to whether a different approach than the one adopted by Hegel in his Philosophy of Right can be used to settle the question of meaningfulness of life. Making an affirmative response, the paper then claims that the Hegelian phenomenology is in fact an escape route from Jacobean critiques of the Kantian-Fichtean nihilism. The paper addresses the question of meaningfulness of life from two aspects based on Hegel’s Philosophy of Spirit: one is the value of life in general, and the other the ethical and social values which are contained in the value general value of life and guarantee it.