A Comparative Study of the Educational Thoughts of Mulla Sadra and Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Principles, Foundations, Goals, and the Development of an Educational Model Compatible with the Iranian Educational System

Abstract

This study aimed to comparatively examine the educational thoughts of Mulla Sadra and Jean-Jacques Rousseau and to derive an integrated educational model compatible with the philosophical, cultural, and pedagogical assumptions of the Iranian educational system. This study was qualitative in nature and fundamental-theoretical in purpose, employing a philosophical-comparative analytical method. Data were collected through library research and the analysis of philosophical and educational texts. The primary sources included Mulla Sadra’s major works related to transcendent philosophy, the soul, substantial motion, and existential hierarchy, as well as Rousseau’s central writings, particularly Emile, or On Education, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, and The Social Contract. The analysis was conducted at three interconnected levels: anthropological, epistemological, and teleological foundations; educational principles and methods; and practical implications for the Iranian educational system. The inferential findings indicated that despite their fundamental metaphysical differences, Mulla Sadra and Rousseau share several educational assumptions, including the gradual nature of human growth, the importance of lived experience, criticism of verbalistic and memory-based instruction, the active role of the learner, and the necessity of aligning education with developmental stages. In Mulla Sadra’s thought, education is interpreted as the gradual movement of the soul toward existential perfection, rationality, self-purification, and true happiness. In Rousseau’s view, education is grounded in the natural goodness of the child, guided freedom, direct experience, and the avoidance of premature social and conceptual imposition. The proposed integrated model emphasizes experience, interaction with the environment, and natural development in early educational stages, while prioritizing rationality, virtue, meaning, and existential elevation in later stages. The results suggest that a stage-based integration of Mulla Sadra’s transcendent philosophy and Rousseau’s naturalistic educational approach can provide a theoretical foundation for rethinking the Iranian educational system and support a shift from rote, examination-oriented instruction toward growth-oriented, experiential, ethical, and meaning-centered education.