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Series:
Book Review
Comparative Religion
Ethics
Gathic Illustration
Author:
Dr. Mehrborzin Soroushian
Subtopics:
About the Author
About the Book
On... thought
On.. Theodicy
On...
Technical Rules
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Editorial Support:
Annahita Pesi Sidhwa
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About the Author:
Kambiz Sakhai was born in
Tehran Iran, in
the decade of the 1970. He received his elementary and secondary
schooling in Tehran, and continued his studies in Sociology and Social research
at the university of Rome,
Italy. Following completion of his studies in Rome, he
enrolled at New York’s Columbia university, in their Ph.D. program in
Iranian cultural history.
The areas in which Dr. Sakhai has conducted research
include: Medieval Islamic and Zoroastrian Thought, Anti-Islamic trends of
thought in Sufism, Sociology and Soviet legal thought during the twenties.
The common theme of his work is the analysis of the revolutionary theory
and practice, and emancipatory struggles of the poor and powerless people
of the world over the centuries.
Dr. Sakhai’s interest in the field of Iranian
studies and specifically in Zarathushtrianism has been rooted in the
existential questions that had occupied his mind since he was a young
student. He had always pondered the meaning of life, truth and justice,
and was always yearning to comprehend the reason for all the pain and
misery in the world and why people were not able to find a solution to the
problem of evil. He has been seeking to do something to help the poor,
powerless and the oppressed people. Quoting Dr. Sakhai, “I learned very
soon that neither the Western capitalist solution that was based on
instrumental reason and utilitarian ethics nor the Oriental mystical
approach that preached flight from that type of rationality and that type
of ethics provided a satisfying answer. I found my answer in the life
affirming, emancipatory and communicatively rational approach of
Zarathushtra.” Dr. Sakhai’s reason for selecting his field of Ph.D.
studies derived from the above considerations. In his own words, “There
were obviously other influences but Zarathushtrianism was among the main
ones.”
About the Book:
Dr. Sakhai authored this book based on his Ph.D.
thesis research at Columbia. In this book the theories of Marx, Weber, and
Habermas are critically evaluated and tested against the cultural
background of the Medieval Islamic and Iranian thought.In this context,
Islam, Sufism, and Zarathushtrian thoughts, are compared and contrasted.
These three discourses are among the important contributors to the social
and political milieu that has shaped the fate of the people in the Middle
East, Central Asia, Asia Minor, the Indian subcontinent, and many other
parts of the world. Each discourse is scrutinized in respect to a variety
of issues such as ethical and cognitive rationalization, linguistification
of the sacred, theodicy, flight from the world versus domination over it,
etc.
Judging by all the references that has been
used, the materials presented in this book is very well grounded in the
latest understandings in all the fields that Dr. Sakhai has touched upon
in his book. Reading this concise packet size book provides some profound
perspective on the uniqueness of Zarathushtra’s thought in comparison with
the life view derived of the Abrahamic religions as well as Eastern
schools of thought. Dr. Sakhai draws informative comparison with the
Western norms based on instrumental reason and utilitarian ethics and
points out the areas of deviation from Zarathushtra’s philosophy on
similar themes. Although at times the book gets rather technical, reading
this text is highly recommended to anyone intent on understanding the
uniqueness of Zarathushtra’s vision. Despite its brevity, this book
serves as a good reference on aspects Zarathuhstra’s thought.
The author’s approach to addressing social
justices, and the problems of human misery is very note-able. He does so
by emphasizing the life-affirming and positive approach to the question of
existence embodied in Zarathushtra’s philosophy based on individual’s role
in actualizing their own salvation. This is truly a breath of fresh air
compared to the other approaches.
Some excerpts from the book are included below to give a
better perspective on the insights that can be gained from this valuable
book.
On the relation between Zarathushtra’s thought
and the other schools of thought:
“The Zarathushtrian religion and its social ethics
represent to this writer, a synthesis of the traditions of the Western and
the Eastern worlds. In Zarathushtrianism, the activity of the Theocentric
and Ascentic religions of the west coalesce in inner peace and harmonic
life with the nature that is characteristic of Cosmocentric and Mystical
world views of the orient. Zarathushtrianism is further distinguished
from both traditions by its Life-Oriented approach. For example, in
Zarathushtrianism, there is no notion of the necessity of pain and
suffering as a precondition to human participation in the process of
“being”.”
On the Problem of Theodicy:
“Islamic, Sufi and Zarathushtrian solutions to the
problem of Theodicy fit the typology that we have discussed up to this
point. The Islamic solution is Theocentric, the Sufi one is Cosmocentric-mystic
and the Zarathushtrian solution to the problem is revolutionary- life
affirming.”
“Zarathushtrianism does not postulate an omnipotent
God in the sense of the Abrahamic religions. Human beings are the ones who
stretch the dominion of the supreme being through their fights against
evil. Promotion of life and happiness is the means through which evil
will eventually be eradicated from the world. The human beings create
their world through the promotion of happiness. Whatever opposes this
process is evil.”
On
Differentiation of Moral, Legal, and Technical Rules:
“Zarathushtrian non-differentiation of rules, norms,
and Laws although blocks the development towards a western type society,
it promotes another kind of development. It prevents the instrumental use
of nature through technical rules but promotes an environmentally
concerned approach to technical rules and technology in general. Moral
norms on the other hand are not egological and subjective but
inter-subjective and based on discourse ethics. Finally, law in this
tradition is neither objectified and identified with the technical rules,
like Figh, nor it is totally ignored, as in Sufism. Laws, norms and even
technical rules have to be discussed and agreed upon in an unrestricted
inter-subjective world until the forces of the better argument prevail.”
In short, this is an informative book based on qualified
arguments. |
