نشریه عیار پژوهش در علوم انسانی
سال چهارم شماره 2 (پیاپی 8، پایین و زمستان 1392)

Abdol -RahmanIbn-Khaldoon divides history into two types: outward and inward, whereas Ayatollah Morteza Motahhari divides it into traditional, scientific and theoretical philosophy of history. Outward history corresponds with traditional history and inward history corresponds with scientific history. Ibn- Khaldoon offers no equivalent to the term theoretical philosophy of history proposed by Ayatollah Motahari, nor does he touch on this subject directly. Generally speaking, both of them emphasize on traditional history, but apparently Ayatollah Motahari relies on traditional history more than Ibn- Khaldoon does. Both thinkers firmly believe that human history and society(as inward or scientific history) is rule-based, Ayatollah Motahari considers it difficult to reach those rules because of the complexity of man and human society. Practically, Ibn-Khaldoon, shows great tolerance and many shortcomings in explanation of social rules. On the other hand, Ayatollah Motahari regards scientific history as being based on “society genuineness” and the process of the science of history as being at the point of perfection but such views are not detectable in Ibn-Khaldoon's considerations.

Using a theoretical approach and documentary analysis, the present paper seeks to review the status, features, techniques, methods and disadvantages and advantages of qualitative research. The diversity of the topics and questions in social research works has led researchers to employ different methods in an attempt to decrease the error coefficient in these research works. Therefore, there have been different research methods, each of which is applicable to a certain kind of research. Qualitative research is one of these methods. Reviewing qualitative research, this paper holds that there is no alternative but to use the qualitative method for solving many problems and dealing with many subjects. In some cases, it is possible to use quantitative research, but there is no choice but to use the qualitative method for solving many problems and dealing with many subjects. Although these research works have many advantages, they suffer from some disadvantages, as well. This paper studies and evaluates the methods of qualitative research.

Today, conflicting interpretations of Quranic verses and narrations given by commentators, theologians and…are very distinct. Numerous thinkers have tried to recognize the causes of this phenomenon, but none of them has described it diagrammatically and they have contented themselves by giving traditional explanation of the causes. Can the causes of the conflicting interpretations of a single religious text be shown in a diagram? The importance of this action will be clear when the factors of two or several conflicting interpretations of a single text can be presented in a small table or diagram. In this way a great deal of information can be imported to numerous people in a short time. Relying on documentary and library-based method and the presentation of diagrammatic description, this paper shows the reason why the interpretations of a single text are conflicting.

One of the most important issues discussed in the field of communication is the question of presenting proper methods and frameworks of analyzing and criticizing communicative messages. Unfortunately, due to researchers’ unfamiliarity with the limitations and capacities of the existing methods no proper methods are used for analyzing the messages. The present paper seeks to review and criticize theorist's views about the methods of semiotics and discourse analysis, that is, the two important methods used for analyzing pictorial messages because there are many similarities and differences between semiotic and discourse approaches. One of the differences is that semiotic approach takes care of the way of conveying the meaning by means of representation and language and that the discourse approach emphasizes on the effects of representation, its policies and historical particularity of a certain form or regime of representation. The aim is to provide a certain framework for criticizing and analyzing pictorial messages and the limitations and capacities of the applied methods. Finally, the paper provides a proper framework for analyzing pictorial messages, based on John Fiske’s view.

One of the main questions raised about the process of syntax learning in seminaries is why the seminarians learn Arabic syntax according to the following order: “Hedayah”, “Samadiyyah”, “Al-Bahjaht al-Marziyah”, and Moghny al-Adib”. The present paper is concerned with this question and seeks to fulfill three aims. First, it tries to make the learners acquainted with the aim of learning these books and motivate them to study the mentioned books, especially “Al-Bahjaht al-Marziyah”. Second, it serves as a roadmap for the education officials in the seminary who seek to seriously revise the aim and teaching method of these books, especially “Al-Bahjaht al-Marziyah”. Third, it is a reminder for the managers and students of Quranic sciences and commentary of the Quran lest they should content themselves with the “syntax” they have acquired learned in the seminary. Using a descriptive-analytical method, this paper seeks to answer the above mentioned question when seminarians learn syntax in the seminary, they merely acquire the ability to apply the syntactic rules of these books to Quranic verses. Then, they become ready to embark on “Al-Bahjaht al-Marziyah”. However, by learning “Al-Bahjaht al-Marziyah” the learners become familiar with the punctuational analysis, become ready enough to study Moghny al-Adib and have access to the method of syntactic analysis of Quranic verses in the interpretation process. Therefore, it is necessary to have “Al-Bahjaht al-Marziyah” as a textbook, but the aim and method of teaching it require substantial revision.

A “thesis” is the output of students’ hard efforts and indicator their abilities and it affords a good opportunity for increasing their knowledge and widening their range of abilities. Deciding on the research question is of concern to the students in the higher university level. It is an important and decisive step, because the degree of students’ success in these educational levels is considerably related to it. Topic choice is one of the most important and difficult stages in writing a thesis. A good topic can be a source of interest to the students. Since these are written at the end of the educational stage, a time when the students are thinking of preparing themselves for the examination of next stage, in most cases, the students’ hastiness and reluctance affect the quality of their achievement. In most submitted theses, we are faced with the problem of deciding on the research question, while writing the research is intended to find an unknown fact. The present paper reviews the parameters of a proper research question and provides ways to improve and facilitate question finding.