Yadollah Mowaghen

Yadollah Movaqen, born on 15 May 1948 in Isfahan and died on 20 May 2026, was a translator and researcher of philosophy, philosophy of science, and the history of thought. He is best known for translating and introducing the works of Ernst Cassirer, the German neo-Kantian philosopher, as well as for his research on the Enlightenment, myth, culture, mentality, and the history of modern thought.

Movaqen initially studied physics at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Isfahan, but he abandoned his studies in Iran and went to England. He earned a bachelor's degree in theoretical physics from the University of Hull and then studied the history and philosophy of science at the University of Leeds. After returning to Iran, he taught for a time in the philosophy department at the University of Isfahan, but with the Cultural Revolution, his employment status was suspended, and his main career path shifted toward independent translation and research.

Movaqen's place in Iran's intellectual sphere is tied, more than anything else, to the systematic and serious introduction of Ernst Cassirer. By translating works such as The Philosophy of the Enlightenment, The Myth of the State, The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, and The Individual and the Cosmos in Renaissance Philosophy, he introduced a significant part of Cassirer's thought on culture, myth, language, symbol, and rationality to Persian speakers. Alongside Cassirer, he also paid attention to Lucien Lévy-Bruhl, translating and authoring works on mentality, culture, and modes of thought in different societies.