P rominent t ajik f igures of the

Ashurov, Ghaffor

Tajik philosopher Ghaffor Ashurov was born into a family of

farmers in the Tajikabad region on March 5, 1930. He received his early

education in the new-method school of Gharm. He joined the CPSU in

1953.

Ashurov graduated from the Moscow Sociological Institute in 1953.

From then until 1955, he served as a special editor and following that

became the Chief Specialist on the Board of Directors of the Tajikistan

State Library Named After Firdowsi. Between 1955 and 1958, he was a

post-graduate student majoring in the history of philosophy. In 1959

and 1960, he was a Scientific Worker. Between 1961 and 1964, he was

the Director of the Department of Philosophy. Ashurov defended his

dissertation, entitled Aqoidi Falsafii Nosiri Khesrav (The Philosophical

Thought of Nasir Khosrow), in 1965. From 1965 to 1988, he became the

Director of the Philosophy division of the Academy of Sciences of

Tajikistan. He was a member of the Board of the Directors of the

Academy. He had gained full membership at the Academy in 1976.

Between 1986 and 1990, he was the Academic-Secretary of the

Anthropology Department of the Academy. He repeated the same

position between 1999 and 2000. From 1999 to the present, Ashurov

has been the Chief Scientific Worker of the Institute of Philosophy of

the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan.

In his research, Ashurov has addressed three major philosophical

issues: 1) the history of social and philosophical thinking of the Tajiks;

2) The Lenin phase of the development of Marxist philosophy; and 3)

Criticism of anti-Communist ideologies. Ashurov's contributions

include "Filosofskaya i obshchestvenno-politicheskaya misl'

tadzhikskogo naroda" ("Philosophical and Social Thought of the

Tajiks"), which appears in Istoria tadzhikskogo naroda (The History of

---

Iraj Bashiri

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

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the Tajiks, vol. 2, Moscow, 1964); Filosofskie vzgliadi Nosira Khisrava

(Nasir Khosrow's Philosophical View, Dushanbe, 1965); Aqoidi Falsafii

Nosiri Khesrav (The Philosophical Thought of Nasir Khosrow,

Dushanbe 1965); "Afkori Falsafi--Ijodiyyoti Tojikon" (Philosophical

Thought--The Contribution of the Tajiks), in Ta'rikhi Khalqi Tojik

(History of the Tajiks, Moscow, 1964); "Afkori Ijtimo'i-Falsafii Tojikon

dar Asrhoi XIX-XX" ("Socio-Philosophical Thought of the Tajiks

during the 19

th

 and 20

th

 Centuries"), in Ta'rikhi Falsafa dar SSSR

(History of Philosophy in the Soviet Union, Moscow, 1971).

Ashurov won the Ibn Sina State Prize in 1981. He has also received

the Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1970), the Badge of Honor

(1981), and the Honorary Order of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet

of Tajikistan (1965, 1973).

Ashurov has traveled to Germany and the Czech Republic.