The Conference of the Birds: An Old Artistic Concept Making Sense in Modern Sciences

• Main Authors: Mohammad Reza Saebipour, Marzieh Zare, Kazem Ghaemi, Mohammad Taghi Joghataie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Iran University of Medical Sciences 2018-07-01
• Series: Basic and Clinical Neuroscience
• Subjects: Conference of birds; Art; Science; Brain; Mind
• Online Access: http://bcn.iums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1007-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1

In this article, we will discuss scientific aspects of an old Persian story, Simorgh, in the book of The Conference of the Birds. The story is fulfilled with artistic and philosophical metaphors that make sense in two hot topics of the contemporary modern sciences i.e. cognitive science and complexity science. The poet addresses some humanity bygone concerns and fundamental questions about self, the quality that shapes a person uniqueness, and essential existence. The sophisticated language used in the poem contains allusions, symbols, and implications that are interpreted in five main topics. We think that the story deserves to be the touchstone for questions on the nature of the mind, including the profound question of humanity search for self and meaning of life.