tradition

The paper attempts to give a systematic survey of different strands and intentions of “narrative ethics” both in philosophy and in theology and proposes how to develop narrative ethics in the future. This proposal features three different dimensions of the term “moral vision,”, i.e. morally substantial ideas that are embedded in traditions (Moral Vision 1), the appropriation of these ideas by particular historical cultures or individuals (Moral Vision 2) and moral perception channeled by Moral Vision 2 (Moral Vision 3). Narrative ethics, the paper argues, can describe how (religious) traditions can inspire moral thinking and learning without falling prey to traditionalism. Theological ethics is about forming an ethical culture in which we remind each other of the stories that continue to inspire us and in which we tell each other of our moral world-view and commitments, our strong feelings about the good and the bad which are based in our individual and common lives and not derived from grammatical rules or ultimate principles.

Confrontation and contrast between tradition and modernity brings the intellectuals of Muslim communities into different intellectual, social, and political conflicts. Some of those believe that the only way to rescue from the status quo is sinking in the Western culture and its slavish imitation. Some others insist on the traditions of the past, which are mingled with a lot of superstition, and impurities in the path of events and historical developments and need for refinement and revision. Among these attitudes, Imam Khomeini as a prominent scholar and Islamic thinker has a remarkable view that can support both traditional and modern views. He, on the one hand, insists on the original, valuable, and divine teachings like Qur’anic decrees and the Holy Prophet (PBUH) methods through the theory of Velayat-e Faqih and, on the other hand, in encounter with the Western civilization, chooses some parts being in accord with the divine Shari’ah, people’s interests and development of the society and rejected some immoral parts leading to corruption. In this research, my attempt is to answer the questions, what strategy did Imam Khomeini propose to solve the problem? How Imam Khomeini could combine between the tradition and modernity? Which one will be in order of priority in his list, tradition, or modernity? A qualitative research is perfomed to achieve the aim of this research and answer the research questions.

After offering an overview of some of the main themes of Popper’s political thought, the paper argues that his account faces two problems relating to institutions. The first is that while Popper stresses the ‘rational unity of mankind’, and the potential for any of us to furnish criticisms of public policy, it is not clear what institutional means currently exist for this to enable this to take place. Second, Popper has stressed the conjectural character of even our best theories. However, at any point, some theories will have fared better in the face of criticism than others, and they may give us important information about constraints on our actions. At the same time, as ordinary citizens we may not be in a good position to understand the theories in question, let alone appraise the state of the specialised discussion of them. There is, it is suggested, a case for thinking of ways to institutionally entrench such fallible theories, especially in the current setting in which social media play an important role

Investigation on modern history of urban planning in Iran shows that there are three approaches in the subject under discussion: “Modernism and Westernism”, “Traditionalism and anti-Westernism”, and “Adopt and Adapt”. Proponents of the first approach believe in encouraging methods to use the external concepts. The second, is the idea about ​​cultural and religious values, ​​thereby everything with nontraditional orientation is rejected. In the third approach the thinkers believe that if the parts of tradition are synthesized by modernity, culture and religion can adapt themselves with the development. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the adaptation of traditional urban design patterns of Islamic-Iranian cities in incompatible district of new Iranian cities (spontaneous settlements) and to focus on the application of the third approach in the current situation of Iranian cities. On this basis, the method of comparative analysis has been applied to survey the differences and similarities between historical districts and spontaneous settlements. Studies show that there are rather similarities among physical - spatial parameters (such as structural and environmental criteria) between the two types of districts; because both of these residential districts formed as organic structures that are unstable against unexpected risks and earthquake. However, there are the differences between these two types of districts in organized and formed periods. Despite historical districts that have been consolidated and organized during hundreds of years, spontaneous urban textures formed quickly and without any plan and planning. Meanwhile, the historical districts have usually integrated townscapes and unique materials such as clay, bricks or stone, while this character (integrated townscape and unique materials) never have been seen in the spontaneous settlements. There are similarities in economic and socio- cultural characteristics between residents in the two the types of districts. The residents living in poor economic condition, but under a very strong socio-capital and traditional beliefs; There can be seen several socio-cultural and particularly religious characteristics in people of historical residential districts that are similar with the spontaneous residential places, such as “strong relationship among families, friends”, “hospitality”, “mutual relationship among family members”, strong religious beliefs and the needs for privacy and security. However, these communities are different in some principles such as quality of life and spatial and physical qualities especially in favorable and beautiful urban landscapes. So it can be extracted and adopted excellent principles from traditional and historical districts and adapt them to the inappropriate modern urban districts. With regard to the existence of these similarities, we explain applicable principles of the spatial characteristics and designing quality in the historical district of Yazd to apply in Baghshater District in Tehran as a spontaneous settlement. Findings show that we can use several solutions to reconstruct this zone included: 1) land readjustment as the suitable solution in Baghshater District with regard to the familial residential pattern in historical zone of Yazd such as Fahadan District. 2) Focusing on the traditional concept of mutual relationship in residential houses. 3) Emphasizing on the hierarchy of The entrances and exits of the residential units.

Gulen and Nursi present different images of the combination of Islam and modernity. This article seeks to evaluate the similarities and differences of Nursi and Gulen’s political thought. According to Gulen's claim that Nursi has been his professor, it seems that there is not much difference in their thoughts, but this article show that despite the influence of Gulen's ideas from Nursi and some similarities in their theoretical approaches, there are obvious difference in their thoughts. This article by applying a historical analysis, attempt to examine a comparative study on the religious and political ideas of Gulen and Nursi. The finding if this article shows that the central point of their theories is reliance on science education, Islam minus politics, combination of tradition and modernity, emphasis on democracy, compromise with other religions and Sufi tendencies, but they have many differences in the fields of ethnicity, methodology, etc.