A Survey of the Introduction of Western Philosophy to Qajar Iran

Regarding the interactions of philosophical society and important political and cultural changes which occurred in Qajar period, two points about the neglecting to the translation of philosophical books are implied. First, there was no feeling of necessity in the traditional philosophical society of Qajar period to introduction of the doctrines of western philosophers and so they did not try to translate western philosophical books. Second, Iranian political men and intellectuals, except Jamāl Al-Dīn al-Afghānī, did not realize the importance of the learning and teaching of the western philosophy; neither in form of sending students to European countries, nor in form of establishing the philosophy field in new colleges, especially in Dār-al Funūn. In the second half of this paper, it is demonstrated that Iranians were introduced with Descartes’s Discours de la méthode before the period of Nāṣir al-Dīn Shāh and Arthur de Gobineau’s travelto Iran. Finally, a list of western philosophical books is presented which were translated to Persian in Qajar period and then it is confirmed that Foroughi’s translation titled Socrates’s Wisdom established a new path for acquaintanceship with western philosophy