Technical Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Available online at www.tjeas.com
©2015 TJEAS Journal-2015-5-S/327-330
ISSN 2051-0853 ©2015 TJEAS
The comparison of the naturalist philosophers’
cultural thoughts with the Muslim theoreticians’
Javad Shirkarami1, Taher Amani2, Sakineh Azizi3
1. The Ph.D students of the education and culture philosophy, the Islamic Azad University, Arak Branch
2. The M.A. graduate majoring in curriculum planning, Education Ministry
3. The M.A. graduate majoring in primary school education, Islamic Azad University, ‘Ilam Branch
ABSTRACT: The present study has been performed with the objective of the study and the comparison
of the cultural ideology of the naturalist followers and the Muslim theoreticians. Based on the objective, a
sample of famous and outstanding theoreticians has been selected and their viewpoints have been
analyzed. Naturalists (nature-oriented) focus their attention on the intuitive experiences and the
immediate and direct intuitions of the individual. They emphasized on the special cultural programs which
are proportionate to the needs and the developmental and growth stages. The Muslim theoreticians
emphasized more on the sacredness, eternal and the ultimate goalsand, in discussions about culture and
education they paid more attention to the self ascension and rising to the perfection. They considered the
religious sciences and knowledge as the superior for teaching and education and they recognized the
theological aspects and education as two related topics and they insisted on the integrity of the both.
They also emphasized on the formation of habits and overseeing this formation process, paying attention
to the potential talents and group and social teachings.
Keywords: the cultural and educational thoughts, philosophers, naturalists, Muslims
INTRODUCTION
Many of the researchers and experts in humanities, consider the formation and the development of the
political and social institutions and more importantly one of their prerequisites as related to the education specially
education during the childhood and adolescency. Education means teaching, guiding and helping the blooming of
the capabilities and competencies, interests and the potential talents of the humans both spiritually and
psychologically, in order for the individual to reach perfection and the high goals set for the human beings. To solve
the society problems and cultural system we are indispensably forced to pay attention to the beliefs and cultural
philosophies in order to be able to become aware of the general perspectives and approaches to humans and the
cultural thoughts and ideas which are introduced as the premises of the education.
Study objectives
For the collection of the materials and the information for the current study there has been made use of the
articles, books and other periodicals related to the studied subject matter. According to the title of the study, which
is the comparison between the cultural ideologies proposed by the naturalists and the Muslims, a group of
outstanding ideologists have been selected and their thoughts, viewpoints and works have been scrutinized. Some
of these theoreticians whose thoughts and notions have been studied are Jean Jack Russo, Heinrich Pestalozzi,
Herbert Spencer, Fredrick Herbart (who are the naturalists followers), also, the cultural viewpoints from Avesina,
Sohrevardi, Farabi and Mollasadra (who are the Muslim thinkers).
Naturalist Philosophers
Russo (1712-1778) is the representative of the naturalists scout in late eighteenth century. In his idea man
is a combination of body and soul and what makes it different from the other creatures is the soul which has a
divine origin. Studying the cultural thoughts proposed by Russo three main principles can be enumerated: 1) being
good and divine, 2) society corruption, 3) freedom and following the constitutional rules. Russo believes that if
culture and education are taking place in a corrupted environment and it is not paying attention to the natural laws
the individual has been taken far from the correct manners and education. Therefore, the individual who is to be
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prepared for living in the society should be away from a corrupted society and s/he has to be taught under the
supervision of a mentor by observing the development rules (Karimian and Faz-Allahi, 2012). Russo rejects the
rigid influence exerted by the dictator teachers and in his education method the teacher is an easygoing individual
who gains experience in his or her interaction with the students (Goutak, 2010,p.95). Russo regards human nature
as decent therefore it can be concluded that in his idea the education and nurturing objective is the life per se the
way he himself has prepared Emil (his hypothetical disciple) for life.
Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746-1827) inspired by Russo believed that learning is a calm, gradual and increasing
course. Generally, naturalists including Pestalozzi focused their attention on intuitive experiences. This experience
was considered as a tool for the analyzing the nature into its constituents. Pestalozzi named his great discover
Anschauung. This term means the formation of the vivid concepts based on the intuitive comprehension.
Pestalozzi’s teaching methodology was based on the form, number and the name of things and items. Pestalozzi
emphasizes on the preliminary simple,non-intermediated and, tangible experiences (Gotak, 2010, p.105)
Pestalozzi realized that education and nurturing is of an increasingly natural and coordinated growth which
included all of the child’s talents and competencies. In his belief man possesses three natures: animal, social and
moral. Pestalozzi recognized senses as the knowledge store. In his idea, for nurturing and growth one must
consider stage proportionate to his age and needs and every art or science should be coordinated with the child’s
talents and his or her unique mental structure.
Herbert Spencer is an English thinker who has been living from 1820 to 1903. Spencer was under the
influence of Charles Darwin the famous English biologist. Spencer believed that human growth and perfection
passes through a series of special evolutionary stages and these stages begin from simple stages and they end in
complex and specialized stages. Spencer believed that the instructional material and curriculum material must be
prepared based on the following principles:
The priority is given to the activities which sustain and continue life.
Education should encourage and nurture individuals so that they can be capable of applying these activities
usefully in their lives.
Since empirical sciences are helpful in the useful and beneficial application of such activities therefore they must
have primacy in syllabus planning.
Johan Fredrick Herbart (1841-1776), was the first who shifted culturing and education from something
haphazard and unplanned to an organized affair. He proposed a teaching methodology based on the associationist
psychology. In the descriptive style it has been dealt with the explanation of the contents most likely adored by the
child. In Herbart’s opinion a complex subject can be divided into and compared with and related to its constituents
via analysis. Herbart rejected the theory of separate mental faculties and he established a creative relationship
between psychology and other sciences such as math, physiology and medicine. He believed that the formation of
personality or character is the ultimate goal of education and nurturing and all of the cultural activities are tools for
reaching this end. From Herbart’s point of view the teacher (in his or her teaching) should relate the new lesson to
the pending and potential imageries. Herbart in his philosophical works has pointed to the role played by nurturing
and education in the formation of the individual and the society. He combined theory and practice. The method
proposed by him for teaching involves four stages: 1)preparation, 2) presentation, 3) Assimilation, 4)
systematization, 5) application.
Muslim theoreticians
Abu Ali HosseinIbn-AbdollahIbn-Sina was born in 370 H.Q. in a village named Afshaneh which is located in
Bokhara and he died in 428 H.Q. in Hamedan. He believed in the abstraction of soul and the life after death, the
mutual relationship between the body and the soul and the universe hierarchy and he considered the spiritual joys
and pleasures as superior to the lustful and bodily pleasures and he understood the subjective mental perfection as
the humans-specific perfection (the Howzeh and Daneshgah study center, 2013). Bu-Ali believed in the individual
distinctions and differentiations. He also believed in the imitation and competition senses in the children and in his
opinion, the children are more prone to danger imposed by the malignant factors in their early stages due to their
nature. Avesina considers some stages for the education and nurturing. The education and nurturing stages from
his viewpoint can be divided into three general sets:a)the pre-school stage, b)the learning stage at school, c) the
profession learning stage ( a cohort of the TarbiatMo’allem university students, 2014). The general principles of
education and nurturing from his perspective include self-recognition; the observance of the individual differences;
the adjustment of the program based on the stages and the group education. The objective of the education and
nurturing from Avesina’sperspective involves faith, honorable habits and manners and good conduct, healthiness,
literacy, art and occupation. From Avesina’s point of view after the child learnt to talk and was prepared for learning
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at first s/he must be taught with the Holy Quran and the religions’ principles and then the grammar of the language,
politeness and reasons and moral concepts and finally he must be taught with occupation and art. Avesina
emphasized on the teaching and learning of the natural sciences, logic, mathematics and calculation. From his
perspective the tutor must be equipped with the good conduct and manners and from the other hand the tutor must
have pervasive knowledge and competencies.
AbunasrMuhammad Ibn Muhammad (260-339 H.Q.) after spending his childhood in Darab started
travelling and he began to acquire knowledge and he learnt Turkish and Greek languages. Farabi was one of the
first who dealt with establishing a thorough thought-philosophical system during Islam era. Based on Greek
learning and according to Islam, he attempted to elaborate the practical philosophy specially the politics sector and
education and nurturing. In social aspect, Farabi deeply believes that the education and nurturing should be
oriented along the establishment of Utopia. The principles of the education and nurturing from Farabi’s point of
view includes the socialization of the education, the observance of the individual differences, preparation of the
individuals for the occupations and the geographical environment effect and the buildings’ quality. Generally
speaking, education and nurturing from Farabi’s point of view (the Second Teacher) is: the guidance of the
individual by the philosopher and science in order for him to become part of the utopia to find perfection at first (in
this world) and the ultimate and final perfection (in the other world).
Sheikh Shahab-al-Din Sohrewardi was born in 533 Shamsi in the village of Sohreward, Zanjan, Iran.
Sohrewardi is the person who created the philosophical school of Intuition which was expanded after his death. He
introduced his notions and thoughts in late sixth century and early seventh. Sohrewardi has been entitles as the
leader of the Islamic world Platonians. He called his philosophy as the Intuition doctrine which bears the meaning
of the radiant and rising sun. But this school of thought is not the Plato-specific philosophy and the ideas from
Plato, Aristotle, and Neo-Plato and Zoroaster and Hermes and the Low People Myth and the ideas from the first
Muslim Sufis are mixed. Sohrewardi considers man as a sacred eternal creature having volition who has
descended from the ethereal world to this lower world. Sohrewardi expresses four principles for education and
nurturing which are escaping from negligence, self-recognition, patience and self-esteem. He realized that the first
step for the education and the prophecy of each and every science is the elimination of negligence and waking up
the humans. Sohrewardi recognizes that the educational methods should include learning the wisdom, the proper
conducts, penance, thinking, rosaries, benediction, supplication and reciting the Holy Quran (Karimian and
fazlAllahi, 2012). From the Intuition Sheikh point of view the main objective of education and nurturing is to reach
as close to God as possible. He pays a greater attention to the ultimate goals than the behavioral ones, the main
objectives of education in his mind are some in relationship with the creator of the universe and some in
relationship with one’s self and some in relationship with the others. The main education objectives from
Sohrewardi perspective are getting close to God, intuition, the inner peace and the behavioral sobriety.
Mollasadra (980-1050 H.Q.) was a specimen of a perfect man, he has depicted the descending promenade
from the embryonic stage to visiting the God. He believes that the human passes through the inanimate, animal,
humane, angelic stages and reaches to the God’s adduction by means of substantial motion.
Based on Self Perfection, Mollasadra has divided the education stages into three fundamental stages as follows:
Pre-birth stage: which is interpreted as botanical self by him and he considers the human as potentially wise
The stage from birth to puberty: in this stage one should deal with the nurturing of the child’s senses through
exposing him or her to the environmental phenomena and factors.
The blooming stage and the practical application of the talents: in this stage which lasts from the bodily maturity to
the spiritual perfection of the human, the thinking competency, inference and imagination and the verification of the
abstract things and the super naturals emerge.
The teaching and education objectives from Mollasadra’s point of view cane be summarized as the
following cases: Mollasadra emphasizes on the self-recognition, the understanding of the society, nature and the
God. He pays attention to the Islamic education of a perfect man based on the Holy Quran and Tradition. The final
goal of the education is to put the speech faculty into practical use in order for the Islamic education to be
actualized.
CONCLUSION
The survey of the education objectives and education utmost limit is not only at the discretion of the
science and the technique and not even the advancement and progresses of the societies, rather these affairs and
issues are the same as always at the discretion of the moral and ethical, religious-credence and philosophical
system. The main objective of the present study has been the study and the comparison of the educational
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perspectives from the naturalist and Muslim thinkers and theoreticians and in pursue of such objectives the
perspectives proposed by several of the biggest naturalist and Muslim thinkers have been studied and analyzed.
The naturalists believe that the human beings come to this world with a pure and clean nature and this clear mould
becomes corrupted in the undesirable social environment. They do not give value to the importance of the super
natural issues or mitigate their importance. Naturalists consider the senses as the keys for comprehending the
nature and they view the naturalprocesses as gradual and evolutionary. From the perspectives of the naturalists
the real teaching and education is based on the human preparation and his needs and they recognize that the
education should be at the service of the child’s natural growth, his or her needs, interests and freedom. The
teacher, they think, should be a patient and easygoing person who encourages the students to problem solving and
discovering. The Muslim thinkers consider a sort of education as optimum which is consequently ending in the
man’s salvation and leads in the realization of proper conducts in the students and learners. They pay attention to
the evolutionary courses and paths and the personal and direct relationships with the God and the world.
In their minds, the teaching and education is an undertaking the objective of which is to help the humanity to
reach to the serendipity and the eternal felicity through acquiring knowledge of the truth to the extent possible for
each of the individuals. The thinkers believing in the religion generally consider the religious sciences and learning
as superior in their teaching and nurturing. From the Muslim thinkers’ point of view and even others believing in the
religion the man has a soul and a body and it possesses two existence-related ranks: natural and supernatural.
These two are indicative of the indispensability of the theological and education-teaching aspects. The Islamic
thinkers and philosophers know the true education as involving the coordination between reason and faith and they
believe that there is no contradiction between reason and faith.
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