Kazim Azimov Agamirza ( az, Kazım Ağamirzə oğlu Əzimov; born February 10, 1951,
Astara,
Azerbaijan SSR
Azerbaijan ( az, Азәрбајҹан, Azərbaycan, italics=no), officially the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (Azerbaijan SSR; az, Азәрбајҹан Совет Сосиалист Республикасы, Azərbaycan Sovet Sosialist R ...
,
USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
) – is an Azerbaijani historian of philosophy, culture, sociologist, Orientalist, specialist in the field of history of ancient and medieval philosophy of the Middle East and Azerbaijan. He received a doctorate of sciences in philosophy (1989) and became a professor (1991).
Biography
Kazim Azimov was born on February 10, 1951, in Astara, Azerbaijan. His parents were secondary school teachers. His maternal grandfather was engaged in philanthropic activities, and his paternal grandfather was a connoisseur of the Qur’an and Islamic knowledge. His father was a public figure and was awarded an “Honored Teacher of the Azerbaijan SSR”. After finishing secondary school in 1968, he studied at the faculty of English and Azerbaijani languages at the Institute of Foreign Languages (now the
Azerbaijan University of Languages
Azerbaijan University of Languages ( az, Azərbaycan Dillər Universiteti) is a public university in Baku, Azerbaijan. The student body consists of approximately 4,000 undergraduates and 900 graduate (master's degree) students. The university has a ...
- AUL). He graduated with honors from AUL in 1973. In the same year he was assigned as a teacher of the English language at AUL.
He served in the
Soviet army
uk, Радянська армія
, image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg
, alt =
, caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army
, start_date ...
in 1974. He continued his studies at the
Moscow State University
M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...
postgraduate school (Aspirantura) for a PhD (Kandidat nauk) in philosophy (1975-1978). He defended his PhD thesis (Kandidat nauk) in 1979, titled “Ethical Thought of Medieval Azerbaijan and Critique of Western Orientalism”, at the philosophy faculty of Moscow State University after M. V. Lomonosov. In 1980-1982 he continued learning Arabic and Persian languages at the faculty of Oriental Studies at the Azerbaijan State University (now
Baku State University
Baku State University (BSU) ( az, Bakı Dövlət Universiteti (BDU)) is a public university located in Baku, Azerbaijan. Established in 1919 by the Parliament of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the university started with faculties of history and ...
). After completing his doctoral studies (doktorantura) in 1983-1986 for a doctor in sciences in philosophy at the philosophy faculty of Moscow State University after M. V. Lomonosov, he successfully defended therein his doctoral thesis in 1989, titled “Man in Ancient and Medieval Philosophy of Azerbaijan (in the context of Middle East)”. In 1990 he became a professor of Social Sciences.
Scientific and pedagogical activity
Since the 1970s, Prof. Azimov has been combining the scientific research with his teaching activity at different universities. In 1979, Prof. Serafim Timofeevich Melyukhin, then the Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy at the Moscow State University, Corresponding (Associate) Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, recommended Azimov as a teacher of philosophy for foreign students at the Moscow University of Friendship of Peoples named after Patrice Lumumba (now
Peoples' Friendship University of Russia
The Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (russian: Российский университет дружбы народов), also known as RUDN University and, until 1992, Patrice Lumumba University in honor of the hero Patrice Lumumba, is a ...
).
In 1980-1998s he worked as a teacher, Associate Professor, Professor, Head of the Department of Social Sciences at the Azerbaijan State Institute of Arts, Head of the Department of Philosophy and Sociology, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law at the
Khazar University
Khazar University ( az, Xəzər Universiteti, which directly translates as Caspian University) is a private university located in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Campuses
Khazar University owns four campuses in the city of Baku and two campuses in regions of ...
in Baku. From 1998 to the present, he is a professor of sociology, history and methodology of sociology at Baku State University.
Since 2000s he has taught and researched at universities of
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
as a visiting professor and senior research fellow.
[Социальные, этические и эстетические взгляды аль-Фараби. Под. ред. А. Сагадеев, М. Бурабаев, Г. Курмагалиева. М., Наука, 1984.][Ien B. Philosophy of the Caucasus and the Central Asia in the Soviet period. — In: Studies in Soviet Thought. Dordrecht (Holland), Boston (USA), 1982, vol. 23, № 4, pp. 285—299][Vitalie Nicon Marinuta. Evolution of Transdniestrian Conflict in the Republic of Moldova: Prospects for its Solution. Thesis. California, Monterey 2004.](_blank)
/ref>[azimzade/ Lecture by visiting professor Kazim Azimzade](_blank)
/ref>
Key ideas and concepts
In his monograph “Azerbaijani thinkers about human nature” (Baku, 1986), Kazim Azimov considers Azerbaijani medieval philosophical thought in the context of the philosophy of the Middle East, and compares it with classical Greek, in particular, Hellenistic philosophy. For the first time in the Soviet and Western academic literature, he has undertaken a semiotic approach to the medieval Middle Eastern and Azerbaijani culture and philosophy. As a result, the idea of polyfunctionality of medieval Muslim cultural texts, and the classification of the languages of medieval cultures, including philosophy of Middle East and Azerbaijan, were theoretically grounded. Medieval Islamic philosophical thought was usually defined as materialistic pantheism in soviet academic literature. For an accurate terminological and conceptual definition of God and His relationship to the world and man in medieval Islamic philosophy, Kazim Azimov thought up a new term - “Theopantism” (Greek words, “theos” – “God”, and “panth”, “pass” - “all”, which literally means that “God is all”). Kazim Azimov redefined the Islamic medieval philosophy as a “universal undivided all-unity in diversities”. In this connection, Kazim Azimov proposes two alternative conceptions for medieval Islamic philosophy - the “mythological-poetic panentism” and the “transcendental philosophy of the all-unity”, i.e. religious, mystical and philosophical-intellectualistic Theopantism. He substantiates that Middle Eastern, including Azerbaijani medieval religious, mystical-poetic and philosophical thoughts are adequate to these two forms. He also advocates the non-dialectical nature of binary oppositions or “dual code” in medieval Islamic thought, in which, according to Prof. Azimov, the medieval Islamic thinkers themselves have clearly distinguished between the logical basis of knowing and the immanent ontological causality of the material world. The meanings of binary oppositions in Islam refer to the highest order of traditional metaphysical Reality, devoid of material space-time dimensions. In the meantime, modern researchers, beginning with the pantheist Baruch Spinoza
Baruch (de) Spinoza (born Bento de Espinosa; later as an author and a correspondent ''Benedictus de Spinoza'', anglicized to ''Benedict de Spinoza''; 24 November 1632 – 21 February 1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, b ...
, identify, confuse, and finally mix the logical basis of the knowledge of the Superior Reality with ontological basis (causality) of the existence or formation of the material world. And thus they blur the line between transcendentalism of God, manifested in the worlds of noumena and phenomena, and the immanent ontological causality of material beings. Kazim Azimov also analyzed the modern Western concepts of Orientalism in colonial and post-colonial perspectives.
The second monograph by Kazim Azimov “The problem of man in the religious and philosophical doctrines of Zoroastrianism and Islam” (Baku, 2009) continues his studies in eternally “old” and “new” questions about human existence - ideas related to the valuable world of man in the religious and philosophical doctrines of Zoroastrianism and Islam. The problems of religious and philosophical anthropology of Zoroastrianism and Islam in domestic and foreign academic literature have not been analytically studied before. Kazim Azimov has made the problem of man as the object of his studies in this monograph. In it, the author adheres to the concept of continuity//discontinuity of philosophical thoughts in the countries of the Middle East, including Azerbaijan, Central Eurasia and the Mediterranean, which is based on a contrasting examination of cultures and civilizations in the given region. In connection with this development, within the framework of a strict chronology of the era of antiquity, more precisely before the emergence of Islam in the East and Christianity in the West, it introduces the concept of a Central Eurasian geocultural continuum. Kazim Azimov emphasizes that Zoroastrian philosophical tradition is an integral part of the given cultural space and time. In the past it was a kind of universal language of the ancient Middle East and Azerbaijan. According to this conception, the direction of philosophical developments in the region changes due to the emergence of Christianity and Islam. For the first time, Kazim Azimov exposes the paradigms of the Zoroastrian and Islamic religious-philosophical anthropologies, picks up their convergences. The Zoroastrian and Islamic religious, mystical and philosophical anthropologies are considered not only as an aggregate of beliefs, cults, rituals, but also as definite historical forms of values-laden knowledge about human existence. K. Azimov argues that the sociocultural context, the ideological and worldview contents of Zoroastrianism and Islam, in which traditions play a significant role, set up a common base for philosophical paradigms on the issues of man. According to this conception, the state of things is intimately connected with the nature of the prophetic cultures, which represent not a type of free will, but an exemplar of knowing the totality of immutable truths, revealed by a true creator, i.e. God and his messengers.
Reception and review
Soviet specialists spoke positively about the Zoroastrian and Islamic religious, mystical and philosophical anthropology, argued by Kazim Azimov. This is evidenced by the positive feedbacks, comments and recommendation letters written by well-known Western experts in the field . Modern Western experts gave both the positive and critical assessments.
Michael Weinstein, a professor of sociology at the University of Hawaiʻi
The University of Hawaiʻi System, formally the University of Hawaiʻi and popularly known as UH, is a public college and university system that confers associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees through three universities, seven com ...
and Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, wrote:
Anne Sheppard, Professor of Classical Greek Philosophy and Literature at the University of London, concludes:
Professor and Chair of Islamic Studies at the University of Michigan Alexander Knysh writes:
Professor of Philosophy of Islam and Central Asia at the University of Hawaiʻi Tamara Albertini writes:
Visiting professorships
Since the 2000s, Kazin Azimov was invited by a number of foreign universities as a visiting professor:
* 2000-2001 - University of Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher l ...
and University of Hawaiʻi
The University of Hawaiʻi System, formally the University of Hawaiʻi and popularly known as UH, is a public college and university system that confers associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees through three universities, seven com ...
(USA, 1 year).
* 2003 - Central European University
Central European University (CEU) is a private research university accredited in Austria, Hungary, and the United States, with campuses in Vienna and Budapest. The university is known for its highly intensive programs in the social sciences and ...
, Budapest (7 months).
* 2004 - George Mason University
George Mason University (George Mason, Mason, or GMU) is a public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia with an independent City of Fairfax, Virginia postal address in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. The university was origin ...
, Fairfax, Virginia, (USA, 3 months).
* 2004 - British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences.
It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...
, University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
and University of Liverpool
, mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning
, established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...
(1 month).
* 2004 - Boğaziçi University
Boğaziçi University ( tr, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi), also known as Bosphorus University, is a major research university in Istanbul, Turkey. Its main campus is located on the European side of the Bosphorus, Bosphorus strait. It has six facult ...
, Istanbul (1 month).
* 2005 - Georg August University, Göttingen, Germany (4 months).
* 2006 - Free University of Berlin
The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...
, Germany (4 months).
* 2009 - Free University of Berlin, Germany (4 months).
* 2011 - Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...
, Greece (7 months).
* 2017 - University of Malmö
A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...
, Faculty of Culture and Society, Sweden (4 months).
Selected Scientific Works
Monographs
* Problema cheloveka v religiozno-filosofskikh doktrinakh zoroastrianizma i islama. Baku 2003, 303 P. (The Problem of Man in the Religious and Philosophical Doctrines of Zoroastrianism and Islam. Baku, 2003, 303 P.) Available at the Harvard Widener Library.
* Azerbaydjanskie misliteli o cheloveke. Baku 1986, 207 P. (Medieval Azerbaijani Thinkers about the Human nature. Baku, 1986, 207 p. ). Available at the Harvard Widener Library.
* Tsennostniy mir cheloveka v religiozno-filosofskoy doktrine Zoroastrianizma. Baku 1991, 122 P. (The Valuable World of Man in the Religious and Philosophical Doctrines of Zoroastrianism. Baku "Society of Knowledge” 1991, 122 P.).
* Problema cheloveka i obshestva v drevney i srednevekovoy sosialnoy filosofii Azerbaydjana i Tsentralnoy Azii. Moskva “INION” Akademiya Nauk, 1987 (No. 25485), 350 P. (The Problem of Man in Ancient and Medieval Social Philosophy of Azerbaijan and Central Asia. Moscow, deposited in Academy of Sciences. Moscow, 1987, (No. 25485), 350 P.).
Sources
* Professor. K.A.Azimov.
* Müstəqil Azərbaycanda Fəlsəfə və Filosoflar. Bakı 2007, S.234-236. (Philosophy and Philosophers in Sovereign Azerbaijan. Bakı, 2007, pp. 234–236).
* Avesta. Bakı 2017, S. 2-3. (Avest. Baku, 2017, pp. 2–3).
* Azimov, Kiazim. Problema cheloveka v religiozno-filosofskikh doktrinakh zoroastrianizma i islama. Baku 2003. Available at the Harvard Widener Library.
* Azimov, Kiazim. Azerbaydjanskie misliteli o cheloveke. Baku 1986.Available at the Harvard Widener Library.
* Online Lectures for students at Malmö University, Sweden, by Prof. Azimov:
* Part 1. Azerbaijani Multiculturalism Model.
* Part 2. Multiculturalism as a response to ethnic and linguistic diversities.
* Part 3. Multiculturalism and religious diversity in Azerbaijan.
* Социальные, этические и эстетические взгляды аль-Фараби. Под. ред. А. Сагадеев, М. Бурабаев, Г. Курмагалиева. М., Наука, 1984.
* ALexander Murinson. Turkey's Entente with Israel and Azerbaijan State identity and security in the Middle East and Caucasus. New York: Routledge 2010.
* Vitalie Nicon Marinuta. Evolution of Transdniestrian Conflict in the Republic of Moldova: Prospects for its Solution. Thesis. California, Monterey 2004.Evolution of Transdniestrian Conflict in the Republic of Moldova: Prospects for its Solution
/ref>
* Ien B. Philosophy of the Caucasus and the Central Asia in the Soviet period. – In: Studies in Soviet Thought. Dordrecht (Holland), Boston (USA), 1982, vol. 23, No. 4, pp. 285–299.
References
External links
The Caspian Studies Program (CSP) newsletter highlights CSP events, publications, and research activities.
* Социальные, этические и эстетические взгляды аль-Фараби. Под. ред. А. Сагадеев, М. Бурабаев, Г. Курмагалиева. М., Наука, 1984.
Lecture by visiting professor Kazim Azimzade – Caucasus Studies Portal
azimzade/.
Baku State University
1st part Azerbaijani Multiculturalism Model
Part 2. Multiculturalism as a response to ethnic and linguistic diversities
3rd part Multiculturalism and religious diversity in Azerbaijan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Azimov, Kazim
Azerbaijani sociologists
Azerbaijani professors
1951 births
Living people