Document Type : پژوهشی
Author
M.A. in Educational Psychology, School of Educational Science and Psychology, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.
Abstract
Abstract
The contemporary formal education system in Iran faces extensive structural and epistemological challenges, including extreme rote memorization, learner objectification, one-dimensional learning, and an existential crisis of meaning—deficiencies explicitly acknowledged in the diagnostic preamble of the Fundamental Transformation Document of Education as neglect of the multiple domains of education and alienation from human existential ends. Employing a philosophical inquiry approach (conceptual analysis and Frankena’s deductive-inferential model), this study aims to derive and articulate the educational implications of Avicennian wisdom for addressing contemporary issues in education, moving from the prevailing transmission-oriented, mechanistic structure toward an agency-centered, balanced, and flourishing system. To this end, moving beyond an exclusive focus on The Book of Healing (Al-Shifa), the inquiry synthesizes Avicenna’s broader corpus—including Household Management (Tadabir al-Manazil), The Canon of Medicine (Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb), Remarks and Admonitions (Al-Isharat wa al-Tanbihat), and his allegorical treatises (Hayy ibn Yaqzan, Salaman and Absal, and the Qasida Ayniyya)—as an integrated system. The findings reveal that Avicenna, acting uniquely as both "physician of bodies" and "physician of souls," articulates an organic, two-tiered educational progression: an ethical-somatic preparatory stage (tamhid) during childhood (focused on humoral balance, emotional habituation, and peer engagement); followed by an intellectual actualization stage (istikmal) during adolescence and youth (centered on demonstrative logic, intellectual autonomy, and conjunction with the Active Intellect). Based on this synthesis, four fundamental principles—demonstrative understanding, somatic-rational equilibrium, agentic-peer dialogue, and symbolic meaning-making—were derived, providing concrete strategies to resolve persistent crises in curriculum reform, assessment systems, and teacher education.
Synopsis
Over the past four decades, the formal education system in Iran has undergone continuous legislative and curricular interventions aimed at cultivating an authentic cultural identity and balanced human development. Despite extensive resource allocations, the system remains trapped in a technocratic, transmission-oriented paradigm characterized by severe rote memorization, high-stakes examination pressures (the Konkur [national university entrance examination] syndrome), the objectification of learners, and cognitive-emotional exhaustion (Farahbakhsh et al., 2020; Hajidehabadi, 2020; Hakimzadeh, 2019). This structural impasse is formally acknowledged in the diagnostic preamble of Iran’s overarching policy charter, the Fundamental Transformation Document of Education (Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution [SCCR], 2011), which critiques the prevailing educational architecture for adopting fragmented, positivist assumptions that reduce human flourishing to one-dimensional cognitive-behavioral measures. While this reform charter mandates a historic paradigm shift toward nurturing human agency across six balanced educational domains, practical reform remains paralyzed by the absence of an indigenous, systemic philosophical framework capable of translating normative prescriptions into classroom reality (Bayat & Ghaffari, 2020; SCCR, 2011).
The present study resolves this systemic dilemma by conducting a comprehensive re-reading of the philosophical and medical corpus of Avicenna (Ibn Sina, 980–1037 CE). Unlike purely speculative philosophers, Avicenna’s authority stems from the dialectical unity between his demonstrative metaphysics in The Book of Healing (Al-Shifa) and his empirical clinical methodology in The Canon of Medicine (Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb) (Avicenna, 1983, 1988b, 1999). Moving beyond conventional scholarship that confines Avicennian education to Tadabir al-Manazil, this inquiry synthesizes his philosophical psychology (Kitab al-Nafs), logic (Al-Burhan), medical pediatrics (Al-Qanun), and allegorical treatises (Hayy ibn Yaqzan, Salaman and Absal, and Qasida Ayniyya) into an integrated system (Avicenna, 1908, 1987, 1988a, 1996; Gutas, 2014; Nasr, 2006). Methodologically, the study integrates conceptual analysis (Coombs & Daniels, 2015) with William Frankena’s deductive-inferential model (Bagheri et al., 2010; Frankena, 1965) to construct a rigorous bridge between descriptive metaphysical premises and concrete educational practices. The implementation of this inferential framework yields three core developmental and paradigmatic findings, followed by concrete policy imperatives:
1. The Conceptual Reconfiguration of Education: Bridging Somatic and Spiritual Medicine
In the Avicennian paradigm, education is not a mechanical transmission of static information, but a dynamic nexus and organic mediator bridging the "medicine of bodies" (tibb al-abdan) and the "medicine of souls" (tibb al-nufus). Education is formally defined as a gradual, harmonious, and teleological process aimed at balancing the somatic temperament (mizaj), disciplining lower appetitive and irascible drives, cultivating demonstrative reasoning in the theoretical intellect, and establishing prudent agency in the practical intellect. Through this trajectory, the learner (mutarabbi) transcends material passivity to achieve intellectual autonomy, moral virtue, and proximity to the First Principle.
2. The Two-Tiered Developmental Continuum: Tamhid and Istikmal
Avicennian educational psychology establishes an organic progression structured across two sequential developmental phases:
a. The Ethical-Somatic Preparatory Stage (Tamhid): In childhood, before intellectual maturity (tamyiz), education prioritizes the primacy of affective habituation and bodily equilibrium (Avicenna, 1908, 1988b). By regulating sleep, nutrition, and rhythmic physical movement, the somatic substrate and "respiratory spirit" (al-ruh al-bukhari) are purified. Moral virtues are internalized through peer-mediated socialization (al-ta'dib bi-al-qurana'), where cooperative interaction among cohort peers prevents egotism and cultivates civic empathy without imposing premature abstract reasoning.
b. The Intellectual Actualization Stage (Istikmal): Following puberty, as discerning intellect awakens, educational focus shifts to the cultivation of the rational soul. The practical intellect establishes ethical self-governance, while the theoretical intellect masters demonstrative logic (al-burhan), progresses organically through the ladder of sciences (from logic and natural philosophy to mathematics and metaphysics), discovers middle terms in syllogistic inquiry, and achieves conjunction with the Active Intellect (Avicenna, 1983, 1996; Davidson, 1972).
3. Four Transformative Paradigm Shifts for Educational Reform
Applying Frankena’s inferential schema reveals that Avicenna’s framework demands four fundamental paradigm shifts:
a. Epistemological Shift: Moving from passive, rote memorization to active demonstrative inquiry (burhan) and the autonomous discovery of causes.
b. Somatic-Ontological Shift: Overcoming Cartesian dualism through an organic synthesis of body and mind, recognizing humoral balance and physical vitality as epistemological prerequisites for cognitive function.
c. Relational-Civic Shift: Transitioning from hyper-individualistic academic competition to cooperative, peer-mediated character development (al-ta'dib bi-al-qurana').
d. Teleological Shift: Transcending credentialist, technocratic utilitarianism toward existential meaning-making and spiritual healing (shifa al-nafs).
Conclusion
Based on the inferential synthesis of Avicennian philosophy, five actionable policy packages are derived to restructure contemporary schooling:
a. Reform of Assessment Systems: Phasing out standardized, rote-oriented multiple-choice testing in favor of authentic, performance-based assessments (open-ended dialectical problem-solving, portfolios, and oral defense).
b. Curricular Inclusion of Applied Logic: Introducing applied informal logic and argumentation into lower secondary curricula to equip learners with analytical defenses against sophistry and dogmatism.
c. Somatic School Design: Restructuring school environments and daily schedules based on Al-Qanun, ensuring natural ventilation, circadian-aligned rhythms, and mandatory movement pauses between cognitive tasks to preserve neuro-respiratory vitality.
d. Peer-Inquiry Dialogical Learning: Reorganizing classrooms from rows of isolated desks into collaborative peer circles (halaqat al-aqran) to promote interactive inquiry, civic solidarity, and mutual character cultivation.
e. Reconceptualizing Teacher (Murabbi) Identity: Transforming teacher training from mechanical classroom management toward the educator’s authentic role as a "physician of the soul" (tabib al-nafs) and intellectual awakener who guides learners toward existential wisdom.
Keywords
Subjects
