| Abstrakt: |
The present article is a historical study about the relevance of new natural sciences and the concept of progress in Qajar period. By examining the books of natural history (Geology and Biology) and the books of "world history' written in this period, we show that first of all, these sciences are an extension of each other in terms of theory and method, which transformed the concept of time in history into progressive, cumulative, improving and evolutionary time, which is inevitable and without human intervention operate in nature. The law that was referred to as the "natural law of progression' and oversees the progression and all-round flourishing of intellect, perceptions, senses, law, organization and collective institutions such as family, kinship, economy and state. Second, the theoretical principles of these sciences were applied to the "real history" of societies, and societies were classified in an evolutionary spectrum with a gradual transition from "savagery" to "civilization". Thirdly, the new natural science, biology by explaining the human eye and physics by explaining the light and the way of seeing objects, explained human vision by comparing it to photography technology as the act of taking pictures and taking objective images. seeing the human being gained objectivity that placed the historian in position of impartial objective observer who, while denying the "historian's position", records objectively all the things that happen or should happen by necessity. History was understood as a mirror, notebook, tabula, phonograph, screen, photo, cinema and canvas that represent what happens in nature in the form of objective images. Objectivity, similarity and repetition of the events of human societies in the path of progress was the dominant way of looking at history in this period, which is become possible with the new natural sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
