A comparison of international didactic thoughts in Aesop myths and Kelileh-va-demneh

Subject Areas : شعر

Nemat Esfahani Omran ¹ (Faculty member of the Islamic azad university-jiroft branch.)

Received: 2014-04-18 Accepted : 2014-04-18 Published : 2013-08-01

Keywords: fable, کلیله و دمنه, Didactic Literature, افسانه‌های ازوپ, ادبیات‌تعلیمی, آموزه‌های اخلاقی, فابل, Aesop myths, Kelileh-va-demneh, Ethical Principles,

Abstract :

Fromancient times, one ofthe fourtypes ofliterature which has been– by common consensus –emphasized among outstanding nations in culture and civilization is Didactic Literature. Didactic Literature is a kind of literature in which the creator of the work indirectly places two concepts of good and evil against each other while trying to teach the ethical and moral implications to human beings that, in the classical literature of the world, is generally stated through the language of animals (i.e. fable) in the form of advice. Among didactic works of the world, two are more-than-others involved in the ethics and morality; Aesop myths and Kelileh-va-demneh, the former is in the west whereas the latter is belonged to the east.   Therefore, the present study aims at reviewing and analyzing some of the ethical principles in Aesop myths and Kelileh-va-demneh which have venerable place in the history of world literature and which are emphasized by a lot of ethic-oriented thinkers in the realm of didactic literature.   It should be mentioned that these two works, in their teachings, have dealt with religious, social, and political issues more than other fields in society.