The scientific-intellectual aims of Akhavan-Al-Safa (Brethren of Purity)

Abstract

Aims and objectives are the pivotal tenets of any educational system and without them the educational methods and principles would not get anywhere. The purpose of the current study is the investigation and determination of the scientific and intellectuals aims of Akhavan-Al-Safa. The research method used in this paper is descriptive and analytical. To find an answer to this aim, the relevant papers, treatise, and books were studied. The results show that they considered for themselves an educational duty and a role much like that of the prophets; they had set their intellectual and scientific aims within the center of their activities for removing the superstitions and ambiguities from the religion and for correcting the community. Aims such as the finding and reviving of the talents, seeking knowledge, eclecticism and best selection, enlightenment and awareness and also free-thinking have been but some of the mediating aims of the afore-mentioned area in achieving the ultimate end and integrity. One of the practical outcomes left behind by them can be seen within the 51 papers covering all the knowledge of the time. Their comprehensiveness has been influenced by their intellectual origins and sources in the areas of theology and philosophy and the scientific and cultural conditions of that era.

Keywords: Akhavan-Al-Safa, scientific objectives, intellectual objectives