The fourth meeting of the Institute of North American and European Studies meetings on West Studies with an Iranian Approach was held in Hanane Hall of the Faculty of World Studies. Iranian World Studies Association and the Faculty of World Studies cooperated with the Institute of North American and European Studies in this event. Dr. Ismael Bani Ardalan, Member and Dean of the Faculty of Theoretical Sciences and Art Studies of University of Tehran, spoke at the meeting about the differences of Iranian-Islamic epistemology and Western epistemology.
Dr. Bani Ardalan discussed the Iranians’ understanding of the West in all aspects, especially through historical, philosophical, and epistemological approach. “Studying the West by the Iranians is an old tradition which could be traced back to before Islam. It means that it is not only today that we are in discussion and conversation with the West. In fact, this discussion is an historical one. However, we lost this understanding of the West at some point because we had acted out of emotions, not rationality, in our initial contacts with the West. In fact, we were impressed by the West and tried to understand it through this approach that was absolutely wrong,” he said.
“The history of West and East studies by Iranians illustrates what they on the Silk Road. Iranians connected the two different cultures of West and East through understanding and studying. Therefore, what is understood as the approach through this epistemology is that the Iranian world is East and the West. Hence, when we consider Islam as the nature and truth, this idea is an Iranian one. Therefore, Iran is in the heart of Islam. One who is not like this is not an Iranian; he merely lives in Iran. Therefore, when we talk about an Iranian, we mean that he has an understanding of the world which is a perfect one. He has both the worlds and lives in both of them,” he continued.
The fourth meeting of the Institute of North American and European Studies meetings on West Studies with an Iranian Approach was concluded with Q & A session.
