نوع مقاله : ترویجی
نویسندگان
بخش زبان و ادبیات فارسی، دانشکدۀ ادبیات و علوم انسانی، دانشگاه شهید باهنر کرمان، کرمان، ایران
چکیده
کلیدواژهها
موضوعات
عنوان مقاله [English]
نویسندگان [English]
This article, drawing on Ernst Cassirer’s philosophy of symbolic forms, examines astrological beliefs in Pliny’s Natural History and three Persian ʿajāʾib works, namely Hamadānī’s ʿAjāʾib al‑makhlūqāt wa gharāʾib al‑mawjūdāt, Qazwīnī’s ʿAjāʾib al‑makhlūqāt wa gharāʾib al‑mawjūdāt, and Dunaysarī’s Nawādir al‑tabādur li‑tuḥfat al‑bahādur. The main question is whether, by comparing these works at the level of mythic cognition, one can identify a shared form of understanding of the heavens and of the influence of the celestial spheres on the material world as manifested in judicial astrology. The research method is descriptive‑analytical and is based on a comparative reading of the texts according to the principles of the American school of comparative literature. In practice, this means that, first, the cosmological structures and astronomical classifications in each text have been extracted; then, using Cassirer’s theory of the mythical form of cognition, the place of the celestial spheres and the relationship between the heavens and the realm of material life have been interpreted and, finally, compared with one another. The findings show that in both groups of works the heavens are understood as an “ordering totality,” whose spheres and stars are active forces exerting influence on material life, human destiny, temperaments, climates, and even moral qualities. In the ʿajāʾib texts, this logic appears in the form of astrological tables based on the influence of the seven planets and the zodiacal signs on climates, human organs, professions, animals, and moral traits. There are also instances of astrological judgments expressed as the influence of particular stars on various beings. Pliny, although he criticizes individual horoscopy and certain astronomical superstitions, nevertheless acknowledges the general influence of the heavenly spheres and of the moon and the sun in the form of astrological rulings concerning the human body, plants, animals, and terrestrial life as a whole. According to Cassirer’s view, it can be concluded that, at a deeper level, both traditions embody a shared mode of mythic cognition in which the heavens function as a sacred space that orders and structures the material world.
کلیدواژهها [English]
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