Occidental Studies

Abstract One of the main questions that has preoccupied Foucault scholars is that whether his views on power provide some possibilities for agency and revolution. These scholars also have debated whether his stance toward Iranian revolution can in any way be compatible with his theories on power and freedom. In this essay, I will consider the roles freedom and subjectivity play in Foucault’s works, especially in his writings on Iran revolution. According to Michel Foucault, when power has pervaded every sphere of human life, an important possibility for subjectivity can be found in “spiritual exercises”, a series of exercises for self-cultivation. The Iranian revolution represented these spiritual exercises, since many revolutionists were engaged in internal self-fashioning and external changing at the same time. The French scholar believed that, because of its esoteric teachings, Shi’ite Islam provides these chances for freedom. Clearly, these conclusions were not easily acceptable to Western audiences, who are not accustomed to these categories.

Abstract Michel Foucault was a contemporary philosopher with a global influence. He proposed serious critiques to the earlier intellectuals and was also influenced by many of them. The present study will only examine the epistemic principles of his genealogy through answering questions such as “how did Foucault define truth? What path did he take to get to truth? Was Foucault a relativist? In what domain was he a relativist and what was the basis of his relativism?”. The analysis of the epistemic principles of genealogy showed that Foucault remained loyal to the theory of coherentism in defining truth through both stages. Moreover, in genealogy he had a nominalistic approach and chose ontological relativism and epistemological relativism from many kinds of relativism. Loyal to Nietzsche and his ontological-relativist approaches, he extended the relativism maintained in the genealogy and emphasized that, during every period in history, power determines the truth or falsehood of statements through discourse.

Abstract Wir leben in einer Welt, in der eine doppelte gegenläufe Bewegung von Globalisierung und Regionalisierung vor sich geht. Die Religion ist in einem noch vor wenigen Jahren unvorstellbaren Ausmaß wieder präsent. Das sichtbaste Anzeichen einer Änderung war Islamismus. Eine der wichtigen Kulturen, die sich als religiöse Kultur aufzeigt und darüber viele Mißverständnisse gibt, ist Islam. Etwa 1,2 Milliarden Muslime leben zu Beginn des dritten Jahrtausends auf der Erde. Wir haben in den letzten Jahrzehnten einen wachsenden Interesse an dem Islam miterleben, das mit jedem globalen Ereignis unter den Namen Islam, iranische Revolution (1979) oder Zunahme der islamische Bewegungen in Palästine usw. gesteigert. Diese steigende Interesse steht seit dem tragischen Ereignissen des 11. September 2001 auf einem nie der gewesenen Nieveau.

Abstract The problem of ‘happiness’ is one of the fundamental problems and deep seated questions of human beings, which is linked to various aspects of human life and therefore is studied from different angles. In modern times, some scholars, such as John Locke, investigated the issue and dealt with its problems. John Locke encountered with some issues such as the pleasures and pains of human being, morality, behavioral rationality, scale of good and evil, and also communities, religious institutions, government and law. Combining naturalistic narrative with moral and religious tradition, he overcame obstacles and solved conflicts of happiness in the arena of communal life of human beings. He emphasized rationality, tolerance, the rule of law and civil society. This study analyzes and reconstructs Locke's efforts for analyzing and resolving conflicts of happiness in arena of ideas and social action.

Abstract Along with composing the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Works and Days, Homer and Hesiod did not only create everlasting works, but they rhymed such a mythical world from which Greek culture emerged and flourished. For this reason, Greeks did not consider their poets and especially these two poets as mere their artists but moreover, saw them as their mentors. Thus, it is necessary to have a comprehensive understanding of their mythical world and its essential concepts in order to grasp the Greek culture in general and its literature and philosophy in particular. The purpose of this paper is to examine these concepts to clear that on what conception of relation between god and human, the Greek culture and thought was shaped.

Abstract The major issue of the present article is to explain McDowell’s attempt to determine the conditions which knowledge must satisfy if it is to be an objective knowledge, and to explain McDowell’s proving procedure of how our intellectual activity can make us answerable to reality. By explaining these conditions, in fact, McDowell’s solution to the epistemological problem of relationship between mind and world is clarified. In this respect, his ideas along two axes are put forward: first, his therapeutic analysis about the causes that generate this problem; and second, his positive ideas that represent his specific attitude toward the world, mind, naturalism in philosophy of mind, and the position of experience in the system of justification.

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