In the traditional masculine culture and its gender-oriented divisions, logic had always been considered as a masculine concept. Thinking strategies, in this respect, as well as the ability to make decisions and find solutions are considered as masculine features, marking women as passive, marginal, and observing agents. If only they were given any active role in the social, cultural and political context, it was mostly regarded as a role coupled with treachery and deceitfulness. Yet, in the Persian public cultural domain, from the crux of which legends have emerged as the most notable literary forms, this very patriarchal cliché fails, and the women come to the scene to address problems by relying on their utmost level of rationality and logic. Such a pragmatic logicism in addressing problems as presented by women in the legends can be considered as a feminine rationality. Borrowing from the Jungian theories and forming an analytical-descriptive approach, this study explores how feminine rationality is materialized in the Iranian legends. The findings indicated that unlike global clichés and Jung’s reading of the archetypal legends, women exhibit an essentially feminine rationality that enables them to not only help the main hero of the narrative but also play an all positive role. Considering the depth and breadth as well as the appearance of the wise women in the Iranian legends, this study shows the formation of an archetype, called a ‘wise woman’, which can be further appreciated by exploring the legends from other nations.
Keywords: Pop literature; Iranian legends; gender clichés; feminine rationality; wise woman.
Introduction
‌‌Research Background
Several articles have been written about the role of women in Iranian folktales. For example, an article entitled “Active and passive women in popular prose stories” by Bagheri (2013) deals with the types of female roles in popular stories in the two categories of “active women” and “passive women”. “Women’s solutions in Hezarvayekshab” by Ebrahimi (2009) and “Analysis of the cunning story of three cunning women: a critical discourse analysis perspective” by Karimzade Esfahani and Varham (2016) are other examples of articles about women’s cunning. This study, however, focuses on the positive aspects of feminine logic in the Iranian folktales.
Goals, questions, assumptions
In legends and myths, protagonists and heroes are crafted based on the masculine traditions, and when women are introduced as protagonists or heroines, they are set to behave in a manly fashion (Hourihan, 2005, p. 67). Now, the issue is whether female characters exhibit stereotypical behaviors derived from patriarchal culture in Iranian folktales, too? Examining the Iranian legends, one can realize that some gender clichés have been reflected in a rather different form; for instance, introducing women as wise individuals contradicts the binary of wise man and simple woman, and requires deeper investigation.
In folktales, we encounter several groups of wise women. The first group is formed by women who help the protagonist when a conflict arises. They are generally old women who can help the fluidity of the narrative by helping the hero to address the conflict. Carl Gustave Jung, in his explication of the archetype of the wise old man, has referred to this form of characterization, but in its masculine structure. In Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious (1959), Jung claims that everyone, regardless of their gender, can be unified in one group under the rubric of the father complex. He also claims that in dreams fate, complications and bans as well as constructive councils are derived from father (Jung, 1959, pp. 255-256). Moreover, he expands the concept by examining the significance of the spirit of a father in the European folktales. However, Jung does not mention “Wise Old Woman” in his projects. Most likely, such a role has not been given to women in the European myths, which is a place of reflection and requires further investigation. The scope of Jung’s research is limited, and given the prominence of the presence of wise old men, more research is needed in this area.
Analyzing the Iranian legends, one can conclude that although a proportion of Iranian legends are conceived in line with a global image of masculine domination, there are numerous examples wherein women are presented as a wise old individual, the traits of whom perfectly match those of her European male counterparts.
The second group of women are introduced as wise women in legends. Contrary to popular belief, feminine logic has been emphasized by people like Christian Dupizan, Mary Wellston Kraft, and Jung. Jung discusses the feminine wisdom helping the man in various ways: “an important function of anima is its contribution to man’s logic when it fails to understand hidden interactions of the unconscious. The other notable function of anima lies in its ability that allows the mind to harmonize itself with internal reality of the mind, reaching the deepest layers of consciousness” (Jung, 1998, p.278). In Iranian folktales and legends, we encounter the examples of wise women. These women are mostly considered as smart, intelligent, and wise women in the stories. We can find the examples in these folktales: “Gole boo Madaran”, “Baghe Gole Zardaloo” and “The king and the Shepherd’s Daughter”.
Conclusion
The article explored the two ways in which women have played significant roles in the Iranian legends, namely, the wise old woman and the wise woman. Exemplifying these two forms, the article concluded that unlike international gender-based binaries, Iranian legends are rife with examples of women as wise, astute, and kindhearted individuals. This contradictory aspect of the Iranian legends shows that such gender binaries were never an original part of our culture and heritage. Hence, a reconsideration of gender clichés and reading them in the light of our national heritage and culture is necessary in the later studies. Considering the frequency of wise women in the Iranian legends, we can suggest the notable significance of a new archetype called the wise woman in its Iranian context, bridging between our cultural heritage and the Jungian theories. It, moreover, can be suggested that this new archetype can be traced in other national legends and literatures.
References

•  Ebrahimi, Sh. (2009). Women’s solutions in Hezarvayekshab. Journal of Stylistic of Persian Poem and Prose, 2(4), 125-135.
•  Hourihan, M. (2005). Deconstructing the Hero. London: Taylor & Francis e-Library.
•  Jung, C. (1998). Man, and His Symbols (translated into Farsi by Mahmoud Soltanieh). Tehran: Jami.
•  Jung, C. (2018). The archetypes and the collective unconscious (translated into Farsi by Farnaz Ganji and Mohammad Baqer Ismaeil Poor). Tehran: Jami.
•  Karimzade Esfahani, A. & Varham, L. (2016). The analysis of the cunning story of three cunning women: a critical discourse analysis perspective. Journal of Iranian Social Research, 1(11), 125-146.

 

This article seeks to reveal the strategy by which the Iranian rulers and elites tried to develop the Iranian culture in the First Pahlavi era. The research method which has been used is historical research method; and needed data have been gathered from library resources. The rationality theory of Max Weber is the theoretical framework and based on this theory the first Pahlavi's cultural development strategy has been recognized as " the Development of Instrumental Rationality". Under the impact of applying such strategy in that era, some negative consequences have been occurred beside the positive consequences. As the subject of this paper first Pahlavi's cultural development strategy has been the Considering of some pathological aspect of the mater, the results demonstrates that three negative result have been created under the impact of the implementation of the strategy in question which are: the expansion of Autocracy and Totalitarianism, Oppressive Nationalism and Militant secularism.

 
Introduction:
“Rationality” is one of the most influencing epistemological frameworks in urban planning, though this concept is criticized and denied by post-modernist advocates. The critics believe that it is the “post-rationality” era in urban planning. Furthermore, the concept of rationality has become a negative concept as it has been taken synonymous with an uncompromising technical and professional superiority. According to critics, rationality ignores the other types of knowledge - such as subjective impressions, common sense, social and human values, intuitions and so on – and only justify positivism and value - free knowledge. These criticisms might be due to decreasing the concept of “rationality” to “instrumental rationality”, while there is a variety of concepts of rationality which are different from each other.
 This article tries to focus on and develop the necessity and importance of the dialectical challenge amid theory and practice in urban planning. This is done by addressing the stereotypes about the concept and application of “rationality” in urban planning” and the doubts which have led to its denial through 1) clarifying more deeply the definition of the concept of rationality; 2) tracing its chronological and conceptual evolution; and 3) dissecting its influences upon the theories and approaches urban planning. The first two are exploratory- descriptive purposes and the third one is descriptive- analytical purpose of this article.
 
Methodology
To achieve the mentioned purposes of this article, the theoretical, experimental, and technical frameworks which are related to the concept of “rationality” has been examined. This article is based on a descriptive-explanatory research and the related text data has been analyzed by the “chronological analysis” method within “qualitative approach” to address the questions of “why”, “how”, “where” and “when”. Furthermore, in this article “thematic analysis method” is being used to trace the themes or repeating pattern in the data sets to describe the research question. By recognition of important and critical events in chronological continuum of the related concepts of the research, this article does not focus on dialectical relationship between knowledge. The methods used to collect and analysis the data within suggested process in the article are included: a) data collection and processing: the data used in this article are secondary data and the method of collecting this data is document review which consist of related data in valid and reliable books and articles; b) data analysis: there is a dual path to analysis the data in this article. In exploratory- descriptive path, it has been traced the theories, concepts and global experiments related to the concept of rationality in urban spatial strategic planning. The output of this path is recognition of the criteria of rationality and irrationality. In descriptive- analytical path, in order to address the third question of the research, this article tries to propose a framework to connect the urban planning approach to different types of rationality to upgrade the actions and interactions of planning.
 
Results and Discussion
The chronological evolution of rationality in planning and its effect on planning approach can be discussed within five periods: in the first period, rationality as a pure reason was seen in comprehensive planning. The focus of planning in this period was on “the best action” to achieve the goals set by the employers. It was assumed the needed resources for planning are unlimited and accessible and planners were a value – free technocrat. In the second period, rationality was still introduced as pure reason and the rational comprehensive planning focused on choosing “efficient action” to face the “planning problems”. The main assumption in this period was the existence of unlimited time and resources for problem finding. In the third period, the limitations of time and data resources in planning were been recognized by a planner. Two dominant approaches were identifiable in this period: a) the approaches based on “substantive rationality”: in these approaches, planner as savior tried to do “justly action” to address “plural values” in society. Therefore, while these approaches were concerned about the “ends” and being justly and fair, they were based on substantive rationality; and b) the approaches based on “formal or functional rationality”: the other planning approaches were interested in mutual consensus between the groups with opposite interest - without caring about the quality of the decisions made by these consensus. So, in these approaches the main actors of planning were interest group and not planners. Fourth period was the period of maturity of rationality concept in planning. In this period substantive and formal rationality were dominant concepts and the “communicating rationality” was introduced. The main purpose of the dominant approaches in this period was focusing on efficient, fair and justly and collective action to tolerate the less defeat and face the uncertainties. In the fifth period the communication rationality is the dominant in planning. The approaches based on this concept are concerned about interactions - not actions -. The main purpose of planning in this period is to achieve to not just a “consensus”, but a “consensus based on a mutual understanding”.
 
Conclusion
The output of this article was a conceptual model in order to show the typology of rationality and their evolution; tracing their influence on urban planning approaches; and explaining the necessity of this concept in strategic spatial planning. Finally the deterrent of using rationality in urban strategic spatial planning could be introduced as: first) the absence of a legal prescribed agenda for the institution which are engaged in urban planning process; second) the epistemological, eclecticism, and political gaps in urban planning and the absence of an agreed definition of strategic spatial planning based of rational thinking; and third) negligence in adaptation underlying economic and political traditions, epistemological foundations and theories and approaches use in planning action and practice.

Abstract:
The subject of this research is the epistemological analysis of Iranian Spatial planning plans. Its The purpose is to identify, critique and present the characteristics of a desirable epistemic system for Iranian provincial planning schemes. To achieve these goals, five sampling plans of Mazandaran, North Khorasan, Khuzestan, Markazi and Hamedan were selected using designed sampling strategy. Provincial planning were identified and criticized. Finally, using the recent successful global theories and experiences, the characteristics of the desired epistemology system have been identified and tested by experts using a questionnaire. This research follows a combined (deductive - inductive) methodology. The nature of descriptive-analytical research is fundamental. The research findings show that the provincial spatial planning plans of Iran follow the academic epistemology.  Recent global experiences and theories have shown that preparing plans with this mindset poses serious challenges to planners in three areas: theory, methodology and practice. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a new epistemic apparatus for Iranian provincial planning plans. Therefore, the results of the research indicate that the experts should have a special emphasis on applying the epistemic system of pluralistic-critical rationality in Iranian provincial preparation spatial plans. This approach has been able to address the weaknesses and shortcomings of previous epistemic devices in the theoretical, methodological, and practical fields and has led planners to develop an efficient integrated approach.