The children’s philosophy book ‘Learning to Philosophize with Nasreddin Hodja’ has been translated from English into Persian and published in Iran.
The book, an exciting philosophical adventure for children and adults alike, is translated by philosopher, researcher and essayist Rouhollah Karimi and psychologist, author, researcher and specialist in children’s philosophy Mehrnoush Hedayati, Mehr News Agency reported.
The original edition of the book is published by Institute de Pratiques Philosophiques (Institute of Philosophical Practices), based in France. Practitioners of philosophical counseling Oscar Brenifier from Algeria and Isabelle Millon from France have presented 12 stories on concepts such as being and appearance, truth and pretention, knowledge and ignorance among others.
Nasreddin Hodja is a hero known throughout the Muslim world for his absurd, caricatural and hilarious narrations. Each story of Nasreddin in the book is of a pedagogic nature with subtle humor on human existence, actions or behavior, about the world order and epistemological issues.
Each story is followed by a philosophical analysis and two meditative questions, one to help understand the moral of the story and the other for further contemplation.
The Persian translation has been released by the Qom-based Sina Publications and comes in 140 pages.
In Thousands of Stories
Nasreddin appears in thousands of stories, sometimes witty, sometimes wise.
“Did such a historical person exist or was he only the starting point for a very large body of stories, the hero of those numerous funny and absurd tales and encounters in which he appears as a peasant, a boatman, a king’s counselor, a teacher or a judge,” says the introduction to the book on Nasreddin.
Like Ulysses, Nasreddin is no one and everyone, representing a tradition more than a person. Even his name changes completely around the Mediterranean and beyond, and outside the Muslim world. He bears different names such as Jiha in Maghreb, Afandi in China and Nastradhin Chotzas in Greece.
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