Yahya Mahdavi

Yahya Mahdavi
Native name	یحیی مهدوی
Born	1908 Tehran, Qajar Iran
💀Died	2000 Tehran, Iran2000
🏫 Education	Tehran Teachers College
💼 Occupation

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Yahya Mahdavi (; 1908–2000) was an Iranian professor of philosophy, translator, and bibliographer. He taught at the University of Tehran, where he became a full professor and chaired the Department of Philosophy. He was also known for translating works of Western philosophy into Persian and for compiling a bibliography of manuscripts of works attributed to Avicenna.

Early life and education

Mahdavi was born in Tehran in 1908. His father was Mohammad-Hosayn Amin al-Zarb, and his grandfather was the businessman and industrialist Mohammad-Hasan Amin al-Zarb. Mahdavi was initially educated by tutors at home before attending Dar al-Fonun, from which he graduated in 1928. He studied at Tehran Teachers College from 1928 to 1931 and was among its first bachelor's-degree graduates.

In 1931, Mahdavi received a state scholarship to continue his studies in France. He remained there until 1938 and prepared his doctoral thesis under the supervision of philosophers André Lalande and Émile Bréhier.

Academic career

After returning to Iran in 1938 and completing military service, Mahdavi joined the Faculty of Letters at the University of Tehran as an associate professor. He was promoted to full professor in 1941 and later chaired the university's Department of Philosophy. He retired in 1973, but continued to teach doctoral courses and supervise dissertations as a professor emeritus. According to Encyclopaedia Iranica, he donated the salary he received from the university to its press for the publication of books on philosophy and literature.

Writing and translation

Mahdavi's 1943 book Jāmeʿa-šenāsi yā ʿelm al-ejtemāʿ: moqaddamāt wa oṣul was the first Persian book devoted to modern sociology. In 1954, the University of Tehran published his Fehrest-e nosḵahā-ye moṣannafāt-e Ebn Sinā, a bibliography of manuscript copies of Avicenna's works. The catalogue includes text in Persian and Arabic as well as introductory material in French and other European languages.

His translations included works by Félicien Challaye, Paul Foulquié, Jean Wahl, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Victor Brochard, and Bréhier. His Persian translation of Wahl's Traité de métaphysique, produced with other scholars and edited by Mahdavi, received an Iranian Book of the Year Award in 1992. His translation of Leibniz's Monadology received the same award.

Selected works

Authored works

• Jāmeʿa-šenāsi yā ʿelm al-ejtemāʿ: moqaddamāt wa oṣul (1943)
• Fehrest-e nosḵahā-ye moṣannafāt-e Ebn Sinā (1954)

Edited works

• Moṣannafāt-e Afżal-al-Din Moḥammad Maraqi Kāšāni, with Mojtaba Minovi, two volumes (1952–1958)
• Avicenna's Ketāb ʿoyun al-ḥekma, with Minovi (1954)
• Haftād maqāla: armaḡān-e farhangi ba Doktor Ḡolām-Ḥosayn Ṣadiqi, with Iraj Afshar, two volumes (1991–1993)

Translations

• Félicien Challaye, Philosophie scientifique et philosophie morale, published in Persian as Šenāḵt-e ravešhā-ye ʿolum yā falsafa-ye ʿelmi (1944)
• Jean Wahl, Traité de métaphysique, published in Persian as Baḥṯ dar mā warāʾ al-ṭabiʿa (1991)
• Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Monadologie (1996)
• Victor Brochard, Les Sceptiques grecs, published in Persian as Šakkākān-e Yunān (1997)
• Émile Bréhier, an abridged translation of his history of medieval and Renaissance philosophy, published as Tāriḵ-e falsafa-ye qorun-e wosṭā wa dawra-ye tajaddod (1998)

References

This article "Yahya Mahdavi" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Yahya Mahdavi. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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