Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T08:21:03.740Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Unfolding of Unreason: Javad Tabatabai's Idea of Political Decline in Iran

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Mehrzad Boroujerdi  and
Alireza Shomali
Mehrzad Boroujerdi
Affiliation:
Political Science at Syracuse University
Alireza Shomali
Affiliation:
Political Science at Wheaton College (in Massachusetts)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Javad Tabatabai, a leading theorist and historian of political thought in Iran, has presented a controversial theory regarding the causes of the decline of political thought and society in Iran over the last few centuries. His ideas on Iranian decline have affected the intellectual debates on modernity and democracy currently underway in Iran. Tabatabai's career-long research has revolved around this question: “What conditions made modernity possible in Europe and led to its abnegation in Iran?” He answers this question by adopting a “Hegelian approach” that privileges a philosophical reading of history on the assumption that philosophical thought is the foundation and essence of any political community and the basis for any critical analysis of it as well. This article critically engages with Tabatabai's ideas of “crisis,” and “decline” by challenging his exposition of the Persian tradition.

Type
Articles
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 48 , Issue 6 , November 2015 , pp. 949 - 965
Copyright
Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ajudani, Masha'allah. Mashrutih-i Irani [Iranian constitutionalism]. Tehran: Akhtaran, 2003.Google Scholar
Alamdari, Kazem. Why the Middle East Lagged Behind? Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2005.Google Scholar
Ashraf, Ahmad. “Historical Obstacles to the Development of a Bourgeoisie in Iran.” Iranian Studies 2 (1969): 54–79. doi: 10.1080/00210866908701378CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boroujerdi, Mehrzad. Iranian Intellectuals and the West: The Tormented Triumph of Nativism. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1996.Google Scholar
Calhoun, Craig J. “The Radicalism of Tradition: Community Strength or Venerable Disguise and Borrowed Language?” American Journal of Sociology 88 (1983): 886–914. doi: 10.1086/227763CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dustdar, Aramish. Dirakhshishha-i tirih [Dark sparkles]. Cologne: Andishih-i Azad, 1991.Google Scholar
Dustdar, Aramish. Imtinaʿ-i tafakkur dar farhang-i dini [Impossibility of thinking in a religious culture]. Paris: Khavaran, 2004.Google Scholar
Eʿtemadi, Naser. “Jisarat-i andishidan” [Courage to think]. Chashmandaz (1384/2005): 118–129.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. The Archaeology of Knowledge. New York: Pantheon Books, 1972.Google Scholar
Gramsci, Antonio. Selections from the Prison Notebooks. Translated and edited by Hoarel, Quintin and Smith, Geoffrey N.. New York: International Publishers, 1971.Google Scholar
Haqdar, Ali-Asghar. Pursish az inhitat-i Iran: bazkhani-i andishiha-i duktur S. Javad Tabatabai [Query on Iran's decline: a rereading of the thoughts of S. Javad Tabatabai]. Tehran: Kavir, 2004.Google Scholar
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich. The Philosophy of Right. Translated by Dyde, S. W.. London: George Bell & Sons, 1896.Google Scholar
Horkheimer, Max. “The Authoritarian State.” In The Essential Frankfurt School Reader, edited by Arato, Andrew and Gebhardt, Eike, 95–118. New York: Continuum, 1982.Google Scholar
Katouzian, Homa. “Arbitrary Rule: A Comparative Theory of State, Politics and Society in Iran.” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 24 (1997): 49–73. doi: 10.1080/13530199708705638CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Khatami, S. Muhammad. Ayin va andishih dar dam-i khudkamigi [Religion and thought entrapped by autocracy]. Tehran: Tarh-i Nu, 1999.Google Scholar
Khatami, S. Muhammad. Az dunya-i shahr ta shahr-i dunya [From the world of a city to the city of the world]. Tehran: Nashr-i Niy, 1997.Google Scholar
Khosrokhavar, Farhad. “The New Intellectuals in Iran.” Social Compass 51 (2004): 191–202. doi: 10.1177/0037768604043006CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mirsepassi, Ali. Democracy in Modern Iran: Islam, Culture, and Political Change. New York: New York University Press, 2010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mirsepassi, Ali. Political Islam, Iran, and the Enlightenment: Philosophies of Hope and Despair. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001.Google Scholar
Rizaquli, Ali. Jamiʿihshinasi-i nukhbihkushi [Sociology of elite-killing]. Tehran: Nashr-i Niy, 1999.Google Scholar
Scott, David. Semiologies of Travel: From Gautier to Baudrillard. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.Google Scholar
Shayegan, Darius. Afsunzadigi-i jadid: huviyyat-i chihiltikih va tafakkur-i sayyar [Modern re-enchantment: heterogeneous identity and itinerant thought]. Translated by Fatimah Valiyani. Tehran: Farzan, 2001.Google Scholar
Shayegan, Darius. Cultural Schizophrenia: Islamic Societies Confronting the West. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1997.Google Scholar
Shayegan, Darius. La Lumière Vient de l'Occident: Le Réenchantement du Monde et la Pensée Nomade [Light comes from the west: the re-enchantment of the world and nomadic thought]. Paris: de l'Aube, 2001.Google Scholar
Strauss, Leo. “Jerusalem and Athens, Some Preliminary Reflections.” Chap. 7 in Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983.Google Scholar
Strauss, Leo. “Liberal Education and Responsibility.” Chap. 2 in Liberalism Ancient and Modern. London: Basic Books, 1968.Google Scholar
Strauss, Leo. “Political Philosophy and the Crisis of Our Time.” In The Post-behavioral Era: Perspectives on Political Science, edited by Carey, George W. and Graham, George J., 217–242. New York: David McKay, 1972.Google Scholar
Strauss, Leo. “Progress or Return? The Contemporary Crisis in Western Civilization.” In An Introduction to Political Philosophy; Ten Essays by Leo Strauss, edited by Gildin, Hilial, 249–310. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1989.Google Scholar
Strauss, Leo. The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism: An Introduction to the Thought of Leo Strauss, edited by Pangle, Thomas L.. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989.Google Scholar
Tabatabai, Javad. “An Anomaly in the History of Persian Political Thought.” In Mirror for the Muslim Prince: Islam and the Theory of Statecraft, edited by Boroujerdi, Mehrzad, 107–121. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2013.Google Scholar
Tabatabai, Javad. Az nuzayish ta inqilab-i Faransih: jidal-i qadim va jadid [From Renaissance to the French Revolution: quarrel between the old and the new]. Tehran: Nigah-i Muʿasir, 2003.Google Scholar
Tabatabai, Javad. Daramadi falsafi bar tarikh-i andishih-i siyasi dar Iran [A philosophical introduction to the history of political thought in Iran]. Tehran: Daftar-i Mutaliʿat-i Siyasi va Biynulmilali, 1988.Google Scholar
Tabatabai, Javad. Dibachih-i bar nazariyyih-i inhitat-i Iran [An introduction to the theory of Iranian decadence]. Tehran: Nigah-i Muʿasir, 2002.Google Scholar
Tabatabai, Javad. 2001. “En vérité, l'islam est mort.” L'Expansion, November 10. http://lexpansion.lexpress.fr/actualite-economique/en-verite-l-islam-est-mort_1351805.htmlGoogle Scholar
Tabatabai, Javad. Ibn Khaldun va ulum-i ijtimaʿi: vazʿiyyat-i ulum-i ijtimaʿi dar tamaddun-i Islami [Ibn Khaldun and social sciences: the state of social sciences in Islamic civilization]. Tehran: Tarh-i Nu, 1995.Google Scholar
Tabatabai, Javad. Khajih Nizam al-Mulk [Nizam al-Mulk (Tusi)]. Tehran: Tarh-i Nu, 1996.Google Scholar
Tabatabai, Javad. Mafhum-i vilayat-i mutlaqih dar andishih-i siyasi-i sadiha-i miyanih [The concept of Plenitudo Potestatis in the middle ages]. Tehran: Nigah-i MuʿAsir, 2001.Google Scholar
Tabatabai, Javad. Maktab-i Tabriz va mabani-i tajaddud khahi [The school of Tabriz and the foundations of the quest for modernity]. Tehran: Sutudih, 2006.Google Scholar
Tabatabai, Javad. Nazariyyih-i hukumat-i qanun dar Iran [The theory of rule of law in Iran]. Tehran: Sutudih, 2007.Google Scholar
Tabatabai, Javad. “Sih rivayat-i falsafih-i siyasi-i Higil” [Three readings of Hegel's political philosophy]. Nashr-i Danish 33 (1365/1986): 10–18.Google Scholar
Tabatabai, Javad. Soqut-i Esfahan [The fall of Isfahan according to Tadeusz Krusinsky]. Tehran: Nigah-i Muʿasir, 2003.Google Scholar
Tabatabai, Javad. “Understanding Europe: The Case of Persia.” In A Soul for Europe: An Essay Collection Vol. 2, edited by Cerutti, Furio and Rudolph, Enno, 197–212. Sterling, VA: Peeters Leuven, 2001.Google Scholar
Tabatabai, Javad. Zaval-i andishih-i siyasi dar Iran [Decline of political thought in Iran]. Tehran: Kavir, 1996.Google Scholar
Taghavi, Fariba. “Secular Apparition: The Resurgence of Liberal-Democratic Intellectual Discourse in Post-Revolutionary Iran.” PhD diss., University of California Los Angeles, 2007.Google Scholar
Zibakalam, Sadiq. Ma chigunih ma shudim? [How did we become who we are?]. Tehran: Ruzanih, 1995.Google Scholar