A Reflection on Iran’s Current Philosophy of Education

The present article seeks to critically examine the process through which philosophy of education emerged in modern Iran. Philosophy of education may be approached either implicitly or explicitly. This study primarily focuses on the explicit form of philosophy of education as an academic discipline, while also briefly considering its implicit forms—both before and after the establishment of the Dār al-Funūn—in order to shed light on the background that made the explicit discipline possible. The method employed is historical and philosophical analysis. The findings indicate that, due to the country’s overall backwardness, not only the implicit philosophy of education during the period of modernization but also the emergence of its explicit academic form by its founders developed in a state of intellectual passivity toward modern Western philosophies of education. The major orientations in Iranian philosophy of education have stemmed from three Western sources—German, Swiss, and American. The German orientation was introduced by Mohammad-Bāgher Hushyar; the Swiss orientation by Gholām-Hossein Shokuhi; and the American orientation by Ali Shari ‘atmadari. Without committing a fallacy of anachronism, these founders’ views are criticized. It may nonetheless be argued that their passive orientation prevented them from a critical engagement with the Westen perspectives and thus hindered the development of a philosophy of education suited to Iran’s own context. It appears that such an effort must proceed critically at the center of a triangle whose three sides consist of Iranian culture, Islamic culture, and modern culture. For my part, I have sought to contribute to this endeavor by offering a critique of pragmatist and constructivist approaches and, at the same time, by advancing an interpretation of Islamic culture grounded in an account of human agency. This approach to human agency leads—ontologically, epistemologically, and anthropologically—to a form of constructive realism, and axiologically to transformative traditionalism. Based on its own conceptual space, it places certain educational guidelines at the forefront, such as the notion of asymmetric interaction, which is distinct from both the traditional teacher-centered view and the modern learner-centered view.

Keywords:

Philosophy of Education , Iran , tradition , modernism , pragmatism , Islam , constructivism