From Logocentrism to Classic Hermeneutic with Contemplation on Nasser Khosrow's Prose

The philosophical-intellectual tradition since Plato and Aristotle and even before that till 20th century and in thoughts and ideas of Ferdinand de Saussure, the Swiss linguist, has preferred speech to writing under the influence of a binary approach. In this view, complete transference of meaning through speech was possible, while writing was considered as a branch of and substitute for speech. Naturally, such logocentric approach prepared the context for classic hermeneutic, where understanding the writer’s intentions was considered as the purpose of interpretation. A brief look at Islamic-Persian culture and history shows that the same view is prevalent in the discourse of classic literature. Nasser Khosrow is among those who have such a view. On the one hand, he defends logocentrism by using such titles as name, discourse, speech and thus claims the superiority of speech over writing and, on the other hand, by distinguishing between revelation and interpretation he considers the gaining of author’s intention as the final goal of an interpreter. This article tries to explain such a claim in detail.