The Opposition between Traditional and Modern Astronomy in the Process of the Translation of the New Sciences (Nasser-al-din Shah Qajar Era)

One of the important issues in the history of Iran (in Nasser-al-din Shah Qajar Era) is the opposition between the formation of new knowledge and technology and the preservation of the traditional knowledge and the reaction of the traditional science scholars. Epistemological foundations of a new civilization based on new scientific findings and on empirical methods in natural sciences through translations, with the traditional understanding of science and traditional means any knowledge and inductive method as a method for knowledge discovery was in contrast to the continuation of the Iranian traditional scientific approach. This contrast in various fields of science had occurred due to various aspects of Qajar era: clash between the traditional astronomers named “Monajem -al Dawlah” against the translators of the new science, traditional schools against the Dar-al-Fonun, and, traditional rejection of translation and writing in modern newspapers. These clashes marked a new era in the field of scientific modernity in Iran. Attempts made by social groups in the challenging field of science and ideology in the form of translations of modern science and traditional treatises can be investigated. The opposition between the new and the old astronomy and the new translation in the Nazareth era (18451896- A.C.), has been the subject of the present article. In this study, the content of translated texts on astronomy and the astronomy texts belonging to the dominant discourse of Qajar era will be challenged. In this essay, the historical method is the main method for the research. Based upon the sources published in the subject area, we are in search of the causal relations within historical conditions and we implement the history of ideas approach towards the opponents and the proponents of science and scientific methods.