TEHRAN – Iranian sociologist Manuchehr Ashtiani who was also a translator of Western philosophy books died of old age at his home in Tehran on Tuesday at the age of 90.

He was a former member of the Tudeh Party of Iran, an Iranian communist party, and had also carried out studies on philosophy.

He was a nephew of Nima Yushij, the father of Iranian blank verse poetry, and a grandchild of Mirza Hassan Ashtiani, a top Muslim cleric of the Qajar period during the 19th century.
 
He received a Ph.D. degree in philosophy from Heidelberg University and was a student of German philosophers Hans-Georg Gadamer and Karl Lowith.

Most of Ashtiani’s translations reflect the views of sociologists such as Max Weber, Karl Mannheim and Max Scheler on the sociology of knowledge.

Photo: Iranian translator Manuchehr Ashtiani in an undated photo.

MMS/YAW