A Comparative Study on Anthropology from Viewpoint of Aziz Al-din Nasafi and Ancient Wisdom of Iran

Anthropology is an essential issue in the field ofhuman knowledge that different schools dealt with from different angles. The aim of this essay is to do a comparative study on this issue from the viewpoint of Nasafi and Zoroaster. This study is made by analytic method and by a reference to library sources. During the process of this study, by relying on Nasafi's and Zoroaster's works, we have come to realize that both sides of comparison have similarities, for instance, in the following issues: human being is created by God and has some aspects including spirit, soul, wisdom, and physical ones. Human being is a creature that has voluntary and volitional faculty. Good and evil are the result of his selection. Knowledge and action are constructor ofhis essence. Human being has a special capacity that other creatures do not have, and because of this existential capacity, he is the representative and divine caliph and the aid of creator (as Zoroaster says) in the world. Human being is the flower of the creation, and for this reality, the control and leadership of other creatures is given to him
On the other hand, the writers reached some differences that result in distinction between two kinds of anthropology, for instance, there is no idea of instinct in the thoughts of Zoroaster, but in that of Nasafi’s,it clearly exists. In addition, the issue that to what extentis human knowledge concerning the origin of existence and how is it possible, and that can human being get to the core of the knowledge about the creator? Is what Nasafi clearly denies this kind of knowledge, whereas Zoroaster has nothing to say and keeps silent about it. Also, Nasafi looks at human behavior as a subject of religious law, and in his viewpoint, being bound over religious law is necessary in the stages of mystical journey.