A Comparative Reading of the Position of Reason in the Thoughts of Descartes and Sheikh Ansari from the Perspective of Education

Abstract

During the last four decades in Iran, there has been a relentless effort by the proponents of the theory of Islamic education to compare the intellectual, behavioral and educational ideas of Muslim thinkers with the views of world-renowned philosophers. The aim of the present study was a comparative narrative of the position of “reason” in the thoughts of the French philosopher René Descartes and the Shiite jurist Sheikh Morteza Ansari from the perspective of education. In terms of method, the present study is a comparatively qualitative research using philosophical hermeneutic approach. For data collection, researchers have used the documentary method and for data analysis (text comprehension) the history-oriented and commentator-centered approaches were used. The first findings showed that both Descartes and Sheikh Ansari are very similar in terms of their great influence on the thinkers of their time and "intellectual stream-making ". Also, the most important similarity between the two philosophers is the acceptance of the superiority of reason over other sources of knowledge. The research findings also reveal differences between the two thinkers. Cartesian intellect is self-centered and Sheikh Ansari intellect is other-centered. While Descartes sees reason as the only real tool for measuring the accuracy of science, Sheikh Ansari considers it as one of the most important tools for discovering knowledge. In short, although Descartes and Sheikh Ansari were not in the conventional sense of the word "Educator", by emphasizing the position of reason, they were able to undermine the scientific structure of their society - such as traditional teaching- learning methods, teacher-centered and past-centered.

Keywords

• intellectual system
• islamic education
• reason
• descartes
• sheikh ansari