Political Thought
Sajjad Chitfroush
Abstract
The modern state is among the major political institutions that encompass all dimensions of human life. Despite its useful aspects, this institution, drawing from foundations that may diminish human freedom in its interaction with individuals, ultimately hinders the growth of human thought and the revelation ...
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The modern state is among the major political institutions that encompass all dimensions of human life. Despite its useful aspects, this institution, drawing from foundations that may diminish human freedom in its interaction with individuals, ultimately hinders the growth of human thought and the revelation of the true essence of humanity. The historical experience of Western countries and the subsequent spread of this thinking to other nations have led many thinkers to critically examine various aspects of the Modern State, aiming to reform and evolve it into a theoretical framework. One of the most important critics and theorists of the Modern State, adopting a humanistic approach, is Hannah Arendt.
Some of the most important research on the critique of the Modern state includes:
Steven E. Aschheim, in the book "Hannah Arendt in Jerusalem," examines Arendt's controversial views on the Eichmann trial and also discusses the nature of justice and the Modern State. The focus is primarily on the case study of Eichmann, without providing a comprehensive framework for Arendt's critical thinking on the existence of the Modern state.
Richard King, in the book "Arendt and America," analyzes Arendt's interaction with American political thought and critiques of the Modern State. The emphasis is on the political and societal features of America, with limited philosophical discussions.
Dana Villa, in "The Cambridge Companion to Hannah Arendt" gathers articles from researchers addressing various aspects of Arendt's political philosophy, including her critique of the Modern state. However, direct critiques of Arendt on the Modern state are the focus of only one article, and the overall article leans more towards a review of Arendt's critiques without presenting a philosophical argument.
While foreign research on Arendt's critique of the Modern state differs from the present study in several aspects, the most notable differences lie in the lack of explicit attention to existential aspects of criticism and the relatively limited exploration of the pragmatic aspect and establishing a conceptual relationship between these two aspects in the research. Additionally, the presuppositions of researchers in geography-based or ideologically-specific research have not been explicitly stated, and interested readers can refer to the following sources for examples of such research.
Examining books and articles written about Arendt within the country also indicates limited research on government in her thought. One of these articles, titled "Politics and Existentialism" by Dr. Mostafa Younesi and Ali Tadayyon Rad, explores the connection between politics and existentialism through the discussion of "action" and considers the role of politics and government institutions in creating a space for human growth.
Another article, titled "Political Order in the Thought of Aristotle and Hannah Arendt and Critique of Its Place in the Present Era" by Seyed Javad Emam Jom'ehzadeh and Ali Tadayyon Rad, argues that political order in the modern era has found a different definition and, contrary to the past, where political order aimed at the excellence and happiness of society, current affairs are mundane and lack a metaphysical position in modern thought. The author aims to challenge modern political order through a reevaluation of Arendt's ideas.
Although foreign articles have extensively addressed Arendt's critiques of the Modern State, this study innovatively focuses on differentiating existential aspects from non-existential ones. The innovation lies in initially critiquing the political philosophy of the new West from Arendt's perspective and suggesting her alternative. This study, using a descriptive-analytical method, first refers to Arendt's most important texts and books to describe her intellectual method (with an emphasis on epistemological discussions). Subsequently, it highlights the main indicators of the Modern state and, as a research framework, compares them with Arendt's theoretical-political views. One of the most important indicators of the Modern state is the existence of a unified authority and power within a specific geographic area. Another important indicator is the control of violent instruments by the Modern State. This political structure implies that superior power is not in the hands of individuals but is entrusted to governance through the use of legal structures and norms. One of the significant indicators of the Modern state discussed in this research is the bureaucratic and administrative structure where individuals are placed at various administrative levels based on their interests and competence. Nevertheless, critics argue that in this space of Modern state and bureaucracy, the freedom of individuals is compromised.
This article attempts to present Hannah Arendt's criticism of the Modern state based on her impartial perspective on government. Typically, the prevailing view of government tends to be biased. Using Arendt's impartial perspective, Pierre Bourdieu argues that the characteristic of this institution is the struggle for power among groups and different interests, often hidden behind a façade of impartiality and objectivity. The article aims to emphasize the importance of political action and the public sphere for human freedom from Arendt's perspective, demonstrating how the Modern state has weakened these values. Additionally, the article explores the conceptual frameworks of civic virtue and individuals' need for participation in public life based on Arendt's views.
Another overlooked point in most domestic research is the examination of Arendt's critique of the Modern state at a macro level, i.e., the critique of the Modern state itself. Arendt's criticisms are often focused on a limited scale, examining actors within political systems such as totalitarianism. However, it is essential to recognize that these criticisms, even when specifically addressing certain types of political systems, are presented under a political system that exists in the modern context. Therefore, the present article innovatively addresses this aspect as well.
This research aims to critique this extensive and significant institution using Arendt's perspective. Findings based on Arendt's principles indicate that modern philosophy has led to the separation of theology from nature, the expansion of positivism, and the excessive growth of a form of individualism. This has resulted in the Modern state becoming an extensive and harsh authoritarian regime, dominating economic aspects over political and cultural facets of human life. Arendt suggests that the only way to reform this extensive, inefficient, and dehumanizing institution is through gradual reform of people's interactions in the public sphere and the utilization of theories such as councils in political structures.
Political Thought
Ali Babaei; kamal pouladi
Abstract
AbstractExamining the special place of Mirza Taghikhan Amirkabir in the contemporary history of Iran requires attention to his perception of the "Janus face of modernity". According to historical sociology, modernity has a dual and interconnected nature, whose positive, civilizational or objective aspect ...
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AbstractExamining the special place of Mirza Taghikhan Amirkabir in the contemporary history of Iran requires attention to his perception of the "Janus face of modernity". According to historical sociology, modernity has a dual and interconnected nature, whose positive, civilizational or objective aspect emphasizes the development and progress of civilizational, economic, scientific and technical elements, and its psychic, subjective and subjective aspects emphasize the importance of achievements. Cultural, corresponding to the freedom of mankind, equality, democracy, pluralism and law, which is manifested in the philosophical language of Kant and Hegel in the concept of "reason itself". In this article, we are going to find out how Amir Kabir, as the great reformer of our society, has thought about the relationship between the elements of modernity. Has Amir Kabir believed only in the positive and industrial aspects of modernity, or has he become aware of the importance of its cultural aspects, including the "law"He has gained faith to the same extent as his predecessors Qaim and Abbas Mirza? The rule of Amir Kabir with the beginning of the reign of Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar in 1230 AH is accompanied by extensive changes Our hypothesis is that Amir Kabir's emphasis on the "fantasy of constitutionalism" reflects his understanding of the need to apply the dual achievements of modernity. Accordingly, We have critically examined the place of "law" in his intellectual and practical system.
Political Thought
Mohammad Amir Ahmadzadeh; Farhad Baradar shad
Abstract
During the constitutional period changes, a new force emerged that and played an important role in the awakening of the people, familiarization with the West, and the publishing of the press, and also thought for a way out of the upcoming deadlocks. Iranian intellectuals came to understand Iran's backwardness ...
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During the constitutional period changes, a new force emerged that and played an important role in the awakening of the people, familiarization with the West, and the publishing of the press, and also thought for a way out of the upcoming deadlocks. Iranian intellectuals came to understand Iran's backwardness through familiarity with the ideas of the new world, and by proposing and publishing new issues in Iranian society, they established different poles of thought that led to the mixing and even opposition of tradition and modernity. The epistemology of the reforms and the explanation of this new reading from thought to the fulfillment of an important precondition is stopped, and that is the knowledge of intellectuals and the fundamental components of their thought. This research, with a thought-oriented approach and documentary content analysis method, deals with the purposeful rereading of the works of Afrasiab Azad, the founder of Hezb Khuda and a traditionalist intellectual of the constitutional and Pahlavi periods, and by evaluating it through the logic of Skinner's contextual approach, In search of an answer to this central question, how is the position of nationalism in the works of Afrasiab Azad and its metamorphosis compared to his contemporaries and contemporaries, and how does this flow contribute to the establishment of the Pahlavi government? Free thoughts are evaluated in the context of the modernist thought of contemporary thinkers.The documents of Afrasiab Azad are available in the sources of purchase documents and in the form of about a thousand files in the repository of documents and national archives. A small number of documents attributed to Afrasiab Azad are available in the Library of the Islamic Council and the Astan Quds Razavi Document Center and have been indexed. An autopsy of a political gathering related to the bread riot in December 1942/Azar 1321 in Tehran has quoted an article about Afrasiab Azad's speech in this context. He has also mentioned the effect of modernization and de-religion in the chapter of westernized plays in relation to the conditions of this art in the first Pahlavi period and the important role of Afrasiab Azad as one of the initiators of the play. The purpose of this study is to put Azad's key concepts in the cultural and discourse contexts from which they were formed with Skinner's method, so that the advantage and validity of his thought can be put to the test. The aim of Skinner's methodology is to enable us to recover the historical identity and genealogy of each such intellectual history text. The guide to the content analysis of the data in this research based on this approach is, on the one hand, the internal logic of the intellectuals' thought system as a whole and a text, and on the other hand, measuring it with the external logic and comparing it with contemporary publications and press - including the magazine Iranshahr, Kaveh and Aindeh- will take place and the focal point is to pay attention to the recognition of opinions and goals, ideas and the thought system of Afrasiab Azad.The findings of the research aim to prove the hypothesis that the association of intellectuals from the intellectual spectrum of Afrasiab Azad led to the expansion of the acceptance of the discourse of authoritarian nationalism and the theorization of the legitimacy of the first Pahlavi government. With the reduction of modern components in the eyes of Azad in the atmosphere of political and intellectual obstruction of the Reza Shahi era, his influential social and political positions declined. In his works and publications, Afrasiab Azad was introduced as an orator, a freedom-seeker and a modernist of the post-constitutional era, who was later introduced as a writer, lawyer and playwright of the political and social genre. He used the ideas of modernism in his opinions to seek transformation along with the tradition and he believed in a form of moderate or reductionist modernism, which at the same time accepted the new concepts of antiquity and nationalism, and religion as well. He saw the base of social mobility and ethnic solidarity in the special political and social conditions of the post-constitutional period. This approach was interpreted and propagated in the service of authoritarian nationalism at the level of the government superstructure and the national unity of ethnicities and religions at the level of the people and the subalterns in order to gain legitimacy. Gradually, the modern ideas were transformed in his opinions and works and with the establishment of Pahlavi I, he only focused on describing and theorizing the existing conditions and the failure of the primary elements. The reduction and transformation of these ideas and accompanying the first Pahlavi government by Afrasiab Azad during the political and intellectual blockage of the Reza Shahi era, turned him into a messenger of the government's official discourse and led to the loss of his influential social and political base and the decline of his role. In the society of writers, a new idea was created.
