During its Qajar period (1210–1344/1795–1925), Iran witnessed some lively and significant philosophical discourse. Yet apart from studies devoted to individual figures such as Mullā Hādī Sabzawārī and Shaykh Aḥmad Aḥsāʾī, modern scholarship has paid little attention to the animated discussions and vibrant traditions of philosophy that continued in Iran during this period. The articles assembled in this book present an account of the life, works and philosophical challenges taken up by seven major philosophers of the Qajar period. As a collection, the articles convey the range and diversity of Qajar philosophical thinking. Besides indigenous thoughts, the book also deals with the reception of European philosophy in Iran at the time.
Reza Pourjavady, Ph.D. (Freie Universität Berlin, 2008), is Adjunct Professor at Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main. His publications include
Philosophy in Early Safavid Iran: Najm al-Dīn Maḥmūd Nayrīzī and His Writings (Brill, 2011) and, coauthored with Sabine Schmidtke,
A Jewish Philosopher of Baghdad: ʿIzz al-Dawla Ibn Kammūna (d. 683/1284) and His Writings (Brill, 2006).
"All in all, then, the present book provides deep and exciting insights into an agitated and crucial period of Iran’s intellectual history. And in so doing, it constitutes a reliable basis and incitement for further research into many topics to do with (Islamic) philosophy and intellectual history, not only in Qājār Iran, but well beyond that era and that area." Urs Gösken, in
Orientalistische Literaturzeitung 115/1 (2020)
Acknowledgement Notes on Contributors
Introduction Reza Pourjavady
1 Mullā Mahdī Narāqī Reza Pourjavady
2 Shaykh Aḥmad al-Aḥsāʾī Idris Samawi Hamid
3 Mullā ʿAlī Nūrī Sajjad Rizvi
4 Mullā Hādī Sabzawārī Fatemeh Fana
5 Āqā ʿAlī Mudarris Ṭihrānī Mohsen Kadivar
6 Āqā Muḥammad Riḍā Qumshaʾī Hamed Naji Esfahani
7 Mīrzā Abū l-Ḥasan Jilwa Encieh Barkhah
8 The Reception of European Philosophy in Qajar Iran Roman Seidel
Index
All those interested in the history of Islamic philosophy, Iranian intellectual history, and anyone concerned with nineteenth-century Iran.