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Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) is one of the great philosophers in the world. He is a pessimistic philosopher who has his own special view toward life and the pleasures and pains of life. He is known as the philosopher of pessimism, as he articulated a worldview that challenges the value of existence. On the other hand, in the mystical and intellectual world of Islam, Mawlana Jalal al-Din, known as Rumi, (604-672 AH) stands. Unlike Schopenhauer, he is a ‘happy’ (optimistic) mystic. The importance of "blissfulness" and the ways to achieve it in life made us examine this issue comparatively in the thoughts of Rumi and Schopenhauer. With this aim, library resources were studied and necessary data were collected. The research method was descriptive-analytical. The results of the study showed that, unlike Schopenhauer, Rumi is a religious person and believes in God. This issue has created a significant difference in their definition of blissfulness and their hypotheses about the ways to achieve a blissful life. However, issues such as "who we are", "what we have", and "what we show" which Schopenhauer stated have an effect on the creation of happiness, and are similar to parts of Molavi's ideas. The interesting part is that, according to these two thinkers, the mental treatment of human beings with phenomena has an effect on feeling satisfied with life. ‘Who we are’ is a rich source of happiness. Rumi's and Schopenhauer's recommendations are still applicable to humans today since we are trapped in the machine and industrial world and are struggling with great sorrows.

Sperber, trained in the Durkheimian sociological tradition, has pursued his intellectual project inspired by Lévi-Strauss’s structural anthropology. However, he has not confined his studies to Durkheim’s semiological and Lévi-Strauss’s linguistic views. Instead, he has provided innovative explanations of how symbolic systems and symbolic propositions function. Sperber initially extracted principles from logical positivism to demonstrate how semantic and encyclopedic knowledge shape our understanding of propositions. Nevertheless, he discovered that symbolic propositions do not adhere to these principles. Their verifiability hinges on a distinction between the objective and mythological levels, allowing the primitive mind to simultaneously experience reality and myth without conflating them. This study aims to trace the sources of Sperber’s intellectual trajectory and analyze his arguments. It reveals that symbolic propositions cannot be defined as merely mental but not rational, as proposed by Frazer or Lévy-Bruhl. Sperber’s theory posits that symbolism is an autonomous field of cognition, independent of any semiological framework, and is more credible than the dominant theories of his time. Ultimately, the author contends that Sperber’s propositions, despite his claims, lack the universality required to explain the mechanism of symbolic propositions. This is because implicit knowledge, along with the specific experiences of individuals or societies, plays a unique role in understanding symbolic propositions.

Recent research has highlighted the fact that explicit focus on language forms including explicit grammar instruction is likely to direct learners’ attention to pertinent grammatical structures and can result in their grammar structure noticing and acquisition. This study examined contextualized the explicit grammar teaching method in school. In this research 160 learners and eight teachers took part. The study was carried out in two different contexts (online and in-person). There were four experimental groups (n=80), and four control groups (n=80). The contextualized explicit grammar teaching method was employed as the treatment for the experimental groups. Contextualized grammar practices were provided using different images, videos, and copies. Explicit grammar exercises were also available at the conclusion of every instructional session. The control groups did not receive the treatment but received implicit grammar instruction instead. A quasi-experimental and a qualitative method were employed. A pre-test, three post-tests, and an unstructured interview were conducted. The data analysis was carried out using SPSS 24 software. The increased performance of the experimental groups on the post-test revealed the effectiveness of the treatment. The unstructured interview uncovered the observed differences between the teachers in teaching contextualized explicit grammar in online versus in-person classes. It was argued that the improvement in learners’ grammar learning in the experimental groups stemmed from the utility of explicit contextualized grammar instruction for empowering them to notice the functions of the examined structures and to relate them to their background knowledge.  The findings of this study can aid teachers in choosing a suitable instructional approach that can assist learners’ accuracy in writing.