A Study of the Trajectory and Transformation of Khosravani Wisdom toward the West

Abstract

This study examines the trajectory and transformation of Khosravani wisdom toward the West. The main problem of the article is how Khosravani wisdom, as one of the foundational traditions of Iranian thought, emerged from the worldview of ancient Iran, Zoroastrian texts, and Middle Persian literature, and then entered or was reflected in later fields such as Islamic philosophy, illuminationist wisdom, and Western metaphysics. Using a descriptive-analytical and comparative approach, the study investigates concepts such as light, darkness, mēnōg, gētīg, the duality of good and evil, the journey of the soul, divine justice, and eschatology within the Iranian tradition, and then analyzes their relationship with Greek philosophy, Neoplatonism, Islamic philosophy, and Western metaphysical literature, especially Dante’s Divine Comedy. The findings indicate that Khosravani wisdom is not merely a set of mythological or religious beliefs, but a metaphysical system in which ethics, ontology, cosmology, and the destiny of the soul are deeply interconnected. This tradition was reinterpreted and reconstructed in the Islamic period, particularly through Avicennian philosophy and Suhrawardi’s philosophy of illumination, and through indirect cultural, philosophical, and translational channels, it became comparable with Western traditions. The study concludes that similarities such as the movement from darkness to light, postmortem judgment, hierarchical worlds, and spiritual ascent indicate a deep convergence between Iranian wisdom and Western metaphysics. However, this relationship should be understood as a complex, nonlinear, and transformative process rather than a simple direct transmission.