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Online ISSN:
ISSN: 2821-2371
Research of Literary Texts in Iraqi Career
journal homepage: https://motounadabi.razi.ac.ir/
Education as obedience: Persian classical etiquettes and the tradition
of question avoidance
Yahia Bezdoode 1 | Parsa Yaghoobi-Janbeh-Saraie2
1. PhD student of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Department of Persian
Language and Literature, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran. E-mail: yahiabezdoode77@gmil.com
2. Corresponding Author, Professor of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanities,
Department of Persian Language and Literature, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran. E-mail:
p.yaghoobi@uok.ac.ir
Article Info
ABSTRACT
Article type:
Research Article
Etiquettes have played a predominant role as educational texts among
Iranians. The dominant method in these contents is one-sidedness and
the inclusion of some pieces of advice for doing or prohibiting doing
things. It is also noted not to be accompanied by rational reasoning, to
a great extent. The concepts and topics contained in these texts are
political and moral. Furthermore, they tend to use religious, mystical,
and customary supports and, accordingly, the structure and necessity
of social institutions, including the institution of education, are used as
a model of instruction-suggestions with the listener/reader. To add up,
the method of disseminating the mentioned knowledge with the
repetition-reminding structure is based on the compliance
strategywhich has usually suspended the principle of questioning and
dialogue in educational interaction. In this article, the aspects of
question avoidance and the reasons for its refusal are indicated and
interpreted in five political-ethical etiquettes that appeared or were re-
considred in the 5th to 7th centuries of AH. The results have indicated
the author-narrators of the mentioned texts sometimes directly and
explicitly invite the listener/reader to refrain from asking questions.
Sometimes they have dealt with this matter indirectly by telling stories
and planning punishment/encouragement
discourse. The discursive
order of the proposition/production anecdotes/prevalence of
questioning in these texts is organized around the two elements of the
nature of the subject and the position of the narrator, which seems
authoritarian based on the vertical structure hidden in the theory of
education. Of course, in explaining this authoritarianism and
interpreting it as educational tyranny, one should think about it
because there are other textual and extratextual implications that
modify such a view.
Article history:
Received: 05 September 2023
Received in revised form:
15 October 2023
Accepted: 22 October
2023
Keywords:
Persian classical
Etiquettes books,
Political-ethical texts,
Education and obedience,
Education and
questioning.
Cite this article: Bezdoode, Y., Yaghoobi-Janbeh-Saraie, P. (2024). Education as obedience: Persian classical
etiquettes and the tradition of question avoidance. Research of Literary Texts in Iraqi Career,
4 (4), 19-47.
© The Author(s). Publisher: Razi University
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22126/ltip.2023.9814.1209
Online ISSN:
ISSN: 2821-2371
Research of Literary Texts in Iraqi Career
journal homepage: https://motounadabi.razi.ac.ir/
Extended Abstract
Introduction:
Etiquettes are the repetition of common concepts which have come across changes with respect
to the impact of dominant attitudes in different eras. These changes, however, are neither
similar to the fundamental differentiations in specific eras, nor manifest the Ricoeur's
classification. Thus, they cannot be counted as ethers. Despite that, Iranian ethics, in a way that
some of those texts had been devoted to ethics in its ultimate form, act as a foundation for
practical wisdom. Although etiquettes have theoretical weaknesses and a lack of a pedagogical
framework, they are still educationally significant in nurturing a skillful, socialized, and
professional workforce. The important point is the interpretation of the structures and the
methods of spreading wisdom, their taking sides, and their reasoning towards education which
is mainly based on obedience, not questioning. The present paper is an attempt to justify,
classify, and interpret the aspects of question avoidance and its reasons in five dominant
political-ethical etiquettes. These works are "Qaboosname", "Siyasatname", "Kimiyaye Saadat",
"Kelile va Demne", and "Golestan".
Materials and Methods:
Philosophical ethics does not make use of literature as a means of reasoning while the
etiquettes, by the use of literary narratives, encourage the reader to abandon doing specific
things and partially carries the burden of an educational institution. Additionally, the
educational institution in Islamic-Iranian culture is owned by masques in terms of atmosphere
and space, which has become the prior traditional kind of school in the Islamic world and
consequently, had become relatively dominant in the form of mosque- schools. Pedagogical
circles are the most significant forms of the institute space that is indicated in forms of dictation
and a Discussion about headings. Classifying knowledge to “Rewaya & Deraya” accompanies
methods and devices, questions and controversies and negotiation and debate apart from
memorization and dictation. It has to be pointed out that considered as understanding, “Deraya”,
requires question, however, understanding needs to be known and the domain of its accurance
should be specified socially, educationally, and culturally and, finally, the nature of the question
upon which is formed. Moreover, the ultimate goal of mundane and spiritual redemption was to
provide smaller framework(s) for education. To be precise, the touchstone which has
distinguished the beneficial knowledge and determined rules of the acquired knowledges from
obligatory to the prohibited ones. Changes like the closure of "Ejtehad" which was initiated
from the second half of the 4th century and reached its peak in the 7th century, had significantly
influenced the process of education in schools. From classes in mosques to general school
classes, questioning and answering has always been an important part of a class. However, all
class procedures, including questioning and answering, have been a pursuit of the teachers and
class ethics. Non-affirmative and rhetorical ones serve a greater aim beyond finding the
unknown. Astonishment, emphasis, sorrows, and denial in philosophy are, however, related to
Online ISSN:
ISSN: 2821-2371
Research of Literary Texts in Iraqi Career
journal homepage: https://motounadabi.razi.ac.ir/
thinking and dialogue. Socrates integrated questioning to surpass the illusion of knowing and to
discover the truth. Questioning in Descartes attempt for finding certain knowledge and plays a
great role in forming doubt and being an explorer to find the answer. In Bakhitinian discourse,
meaning is the result of sounds distinction and "questioning" is an outcome rather than a means
of finding the answer. The ultimate goal of dialogue which is recollected by Gadamer is to
question the interpretation of understanding and misunderstanding, since neither truth is what
that is accomplished ultimately, nor is the modern enlightenment a way of reaching the truth. In
Gadamer's view, teachers cannot pose a real question as they follow specific aims in training.
This meant, for a question to be real, it should be open-ended rather than having a
predetermined answer. Therefore, the framework of education which is trying to establish and
accomplish wisdom is based on dialogue.
Results and Discussion:
Persian etiquettes, in the present paper, have marginalized or suspended questioning in two
ways. A group of the exposures consider questioning directly and explicitly, contrary to the
nature of education and learners' manners. The other groups, however, implicitly and by the use
of metaphors, allegories, and images marginalize the notion of questioning. In the direct
instances, explicit dos and don'ts can be observed and metaphorical images in allegories and
stories work as a fundamental educational discourse. The mechanism of implicit complications
in a text bears a discourse-like discipline in which meaning production occurs. In Foucault’s
words, discourses hide their interactions in this process, however, they force multiple ways of
thinking such as blued words in special ways and stop other blending and transfer theme.
Following the same way, the tradition of question avoidance relying on the nature of the speech
subject and the position of the narrator, makes the reader follow and refuses questioning.
Conclusion:
The producers/propagators of the theory of education in the Iranian classical world have tried to
warn the listener/reader from any questioning based on the religious nature, the basic and moral
class of the subject. They have also made an attempt to invite the listener or reader to obey by
referring to the political-occupational, status/authority, Gender/age and emotionality of the
narrator/educator. In such a discourse, the concept of boundaries and keeping discipline in its
different forms including bottom -up (expressing individuating), the combination of two parallel
incomgualies (eclectic), and an open domain (uncertainly in conclusion) have been considered
as chaos or contamination, as well as a reason for annihilation. Although question in its
philosophical sense means a penetration into the work or an obstacle on the way of
certainly/confirmation, the ancestors have considered it as the chaos or the aliment leading to it.
It has to be noted that the acceptance of these obedience has guaranteed their socio-cultural
survival. Following this viewpoint, people were safe from the so called chaos like a simple give
and take. To conclude, although the structure of the aforementioned interaction is hierarchical
and authoritarian, it was a sort of logical interaction for the people of the era, while
contemporary man notices desire more than needs. Desire and question are intertwined and the
desirous subject considers salty and finding answers as natural rights, ponders on their
Online ISSN:
ISSN: 2821-2371
Research of Literary Texts in Iraqi Career
journal homepage: https://motounadabi.razi.ac.ir/
individuality and tries to experience the incongruent experiences in which the boundaries
overlap. Although the question avoidance structure of the ancestors' interaction does not look
pleasing, they cannot be condemned of being totalitarian regarding their attempts in
producing/distributing wisdom.
Keywords: Persian classical etiquettes books, political-ethical texts, education and obedience, education
and questioning.
https://motounadabi.razi.ac.ir/
ISSN: 2821-2371
|
yahiabezdoode77@gmil.com
2 .
p.yaghoobi@uok.ac.ir
©
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22126/ltip.2023.9814.1209
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