The 68th session of the Islamic Humanities Tuesdays series was held at the Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute, focusing on “The Relationship Between Values and Descriptive Humanities.”
Hujjat al-Islam Dr. Ali Mesbah served as the keynote speaker, with Hujjat al-Islam Dr. Gerayi acting as session chair. Dr. Mesbah addressed the longstanding relationship between values and scholarly research, presenting a three‑stage framework comprising: (1) topic selection, (2) conducting the research, and (3) application of findings.
He emphasized that values naturally influence research planning and the utilization of results, but that their interference in the descriptive stage can lead to a distortion of reality.
Participants concurred that science can never be entirely separated from values, while emphasizing the necessity of managing the boundaries of their influence.
The session concluded with critiques of relativism, instrumentalism, and Western scientism, along with an exposition of their consequences for integrating Islamic approaches into the humanities.
