نشریه مطالعات ملی
سال سوم شماره 4 (پیاپی 12، زمستان 1381)

The present article is a theoretical attempt to critically study universalism in the epistemological bases of social sciences of the modernity era in order to reconstruct these bases for a better understanding of the processes of reasoning, dialogue, and production of knowledge by the generations and other non-universal complexes like women, youth, etc. A thorough critical study of these bases is not possible in a single article. Therefore the present article concentrates on the concept of rationality and its applications. Rationality is a key concept, which has been applied in the social sciences in its positivistic and universal sense since Kant. The consequences of such an application in social theorization has been the negligence of rational, unique characteristics of social minorities and the very negligence has spread deadlocks in the social sciences. While critically studying the concept, the present study tries to show that the change of its positivistic meaning and its replacement with a concept of rationality with the centrality of pluralism would provide an opportunity to consider as legitimate the attempts of the postmodernist schools of thought in considering understanding of generations of men and women pluralistic.

The present era is that of the domination of modernity over the previous intellectual traditions. But historical analyses and forecast of the changes have led to the formation of three notions in this regard. Fokoyama and his colleagues believe in the end of conflicts and acceptance of liberal-democracy; Samuel Huntington through his theory of Clash of Civilizations argues that the spread of modernity and modernization in the sphere of other civilizations causes disorderliness and strain which will be manifested in the form of retaliatory reactions to the West. Seyed Mohammad Khatami’s notion of Dialogue Among Civilizations, which combines pluralism of modernity with traditions, relies on the philosophical bases of the ancient world for his ethical universalism and advocates dialogue among civilizations. The author tries in the present article to prove that civilization has an expansive, extravert approach to the globalization, while culture has an introvert, contractive approach towards this phenomenon. Hence through propounding globalism and pluralistic exchange whose objective is coexistence of cultures, a better model for globalization and international relations could be found.

Given the impact of the Gnostic thoughts and ideas on the formation of public culture of the country, the present article is an attempt to study dialogue in the Gnostic literature of Iran in order to discuss the normative bases and approaches to dialogue. While defining the concept of dialogue in the literature of Gnostics of Iran, the present study will try to find out the epistemological, social , and ethical reasons for gnostical approach to dialogue and finally with help of sociology of religion, particularly the ideas of Max Weber, it will try to study the relationship of this approach with sociopolitical structure of Iran during the formation of Gnostic ideas.

The desirable model for national integration in Iran is one based on the policy of unity in diversity. This policy is based on the preservation of sub-national identities and consolidation of cultural, social and political ties among them. Dialogue is a suitable mechanism for the creation of these ties. The present article is an attempt to shed light on some aspects of identity and cultural identity as well as its preservation and integration.

In today’s culturally and religiously diverse and pluralistic world, dialogue is necessary for mutual understanding and for proximity of the intellectual horizons to one another in order to reach understanding and accord – not to absorb and integrate one into another. The main thrust of the present article is to answer to the question whether human beings belonging to different cultures and civilizations can hold dialogue with one another. The author tries to answer the question in the light of theoretical approaches to modernity, post modernity, and hermeneutics. He refers to the holistic modernist as well as relativist postmodernist approaches.

As an alternative doctrine, the issue of dialogue among civilizations has been discussed by thinkers and experts in the East and West, particularly in the past decade and has drawn the attention of many policymaking centers. The principles and theoretical and applied prospects of the said notion has turned into an instrument for a new interpretation of the realities and events in the social and cultural fields and also in regulation of relations among nations and civilizations. The current trend of the dialogue among civilizations indicates that new political, scientific challenges will emerge with regard to sociological, ethnic, religious and social aspects of human communities. Moreover the objective of this approach is to explore new avenues to increase knowledge of the existing capabilities in order reduce social and cultural problems. In the studies and planning of the dialogue among civilizations normally the role of social forces and elements, including the women, has been overlooked. The present article argues that dialogue among civilizations is an alternative to the classic sociopolitical theories and tries to study the contribution of women in the process of development.

The present article is an attempt to describe the characteristics of one of the marginal groups inhabiting the Mazandaran Province, that is, the Jugis. In this regard, their social base, geographic dispersion, demographic dispersion, language, religion and occupation in the province are discussed. For more acquaintance with this social group, the Jugi- inhabited regions of Mazandaran and the results of the case studies of the Jugi-inhabited regions of Sari and Amol are discussed. Their ethnic origin, language, housing, level of utilization of civic services, demographic and family characteristics as well as their family, socioeconomic and cultural characteristics are discussed in the present paper.