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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2022
In this paper, we discuss the impact of Jürgen Habermas' ideas on Iranian intellectuals who live in Iran. The upshot of the paper is that in present day Iran, where the society is going through a significant transitional period, various intellectual groups have reacted differently towards the ideas of the German philosopher-sociologist. While the orthodox left-wing (ex-Marxist) intellectuals and the conservative right-wing writers have, by and large, tended to ignore his views, a younger generation of the left-wing intellectuals and a number of the Muslim intellectuals with left-wing/socialist tendencies, have tried, each in their own ways, to ‘adopt’ Habermas' ideas in pursuit of their own projects/research programs.
1 Jürgen Habermas, “The Public Role of Religion in Secular Contexts” with a response by Robert Bellah. Lectures presented at UCLA School of Law: Albert Yoon, Northwestern University Law School, 4 March 2005.
2 Habermas, Jürgen, The Divided West (Cambridge, 2006)Google Scholar; Habermas, Jürgen, Between Naturalism and Religion (Cambridge, 2005)Google Scholar; Habermas, Jürgen, Time of Transitions (Cambridge, 2004)Google Scholar; Habermas, Jürgen, Truth and Justification (Cambridge, 2003)Google Scholar; Habermas, Jürgen, The Future of the Human Nature (Cambridge, 2002)Google Scholar; Habermas, Jürgen, The Postcolonial Constellation: Political Essays, trans. Pensky, Max (Cambidge, 2001)Google Scholar; Habermas, Jürgen, The Liberating Power of Symbols: Philosophical Essays (Cambridge, 2001)Google Scholar; Habermas, Jürgen, The Inclusion of The Other (Cambridge, 1998)Google Scholar.
3 Some of the most important Persian Translations of the books by/on Habermas are as follows: Jürgen Habermas, “Technology and Science as Ideology” in Habermas 1971, Per. trans. Ḥ. Nožari. Farhang-e Tous‘h No.5, (1993). Habermas, Jürgen, “The University in a Democracy: Democratization of the University,” in Habermas (Boston, 1971b): 1–12, Per. trans. by Ḥ. Nožari, Rahyāft, no 6 (Teharn 1994)Google Scholar. Habermas, Jürgen, Legitimation Crisis, trans. Carty, T. Mac (Boston, 1975)Google Scholar, Per. trans. Mo‘ini, Jahāngir-e, [Boḥrān-e Mashru‘iyat: Teori-ye Dwolat-e Sarmāye-dāri Modern], (Tehran, 2001)Google Scholar. Mo‘ini, Jahāngir-e, The Theory of Communicative Action Vol. 1. and Vol. 2., trans. McCarthy, Thomas (Boston, 1984, 1987)Google Scholar, Per. trans. Kamāl Pulādi, [Na˙ zariyeh Konesh-e Ertebāţi] (Tehran, 2005). Mo‘ini, Jahāngir-e, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society, trans. Burger, Thomas (Cambridge, 1989)Google Scholar, Per. trans. Mo‘ini, Jahāngir-e, [Degargoni Sākhtāri Ḥouzeh ‘Omumi], (Tehran, 2005)Google Scholar. Holub, Robert, Critic in the Public Sphere, Per. trans. Ḥ. Bashiriyeh, [Naqd dar Ḥouzeh ‘Omomi] (Tehran,1999)Google Scholar. Pusey, Michael, Jürgen Habermas, (London, 1987)Google Scholar, Per. trans. Tadayon, Aḥmad, [Jürgen Habermas], (Tehran, 2000)Google Scholar. K.White, Stephen, The Recent Work of Jürgen Habermas: Reason, Justice and Modernity (Cambridge, 1990)Google Scholar, Per. trans. Akbari, Moḥammad Ḥariri, [Neveshte Hāy-e Akhir-e Jürgen Habermas: Kherad, ‘Edālat va Nou Gerāee], (Tehran, 2001)Google Scholar.
4 Among the interviewees, there were two, Mohammad Reźa Nikfar and Shahrokh Ḥaqiqi, who live and work outside Iran. We intend to discuss their views, along with the views of some other expatriate Iranian intellectuals, in a separate paper. We have also completed a book in Persian (to be published in 2007) which contains the full text of our interviews with all those intellectuals, both inside and outside Iran, who have kindly accepted our invitation to take part in our project. We would like to thank them for their warm support of the project.
5 Adibi, Ḥossein and Anşāri, ‘Abdol-M‘abud, Na˙ zariye hā-ye Jām‘ce-e Shenāsi [Sociological Theories] (Tehran, 1979)Google Scholar.
6 The authors, who had used English sources for their book, had mispronounced the German letter ‘J’. See Ḥossein and ‘Abdol-M‘abud Anşāri, Na˙ zariye hā-ye Jām‘e-e Shenāsi, 142.
7 The cited titles are as follows: Toward a Critical Theory (Sic), Knowledge and Human Interest (1971a), and Theory and Practice (1973).
8 Ḥossein Adibi and ‘Abdol-M‘abud Anşāri, Na˙ zariye hā-ye Jām‘e-e Shenāsi, 143.
9 In 2006, following the defeat of the Reform Movement in the Presidential election, Bashiriyeh, predicting a fresh wave of pressure on the academics by the conservatives, decided to leave the country for a sabbatical leave. He is currently based at Maxwell School of Syracuse University.
10 Bashiriyeh, Ḥossein, “Maktab-e Frankfort: Negaresh-e Enteqādi, Naghd-e Āiyn-e Eśbati va Jām‘e-ye Nou” [Frankfurt School: Critical Theory, Criticism of the Positivism and the Modern Society], Siyāsat-e Khāreji [Foreign Policy] 3, no. 4 (1989): 591–613Google Scholar.
11 A long interview with Amin Zādeh concerning the way he was influenced by Habermas's views appears in our Persian book on Habermas and Iranian intellectuals. Amin Zādeh was appointed deputy Foreign Minister during President Khātami's government.
12 See the footnote on Persian translations of books on Habermas above.
13 Abāžari, Yusuf, Kherad-e Jām‘e Shenāsi [Sociological Reason] (Tehran, 1998)Google Scholar.
14 Jalāl-e Āl-e Aḥmad (1923–1969). A novelist, social thinker, and a political activist whose views on the role of intellectuals and the causes of backwardness of Third-World countries, the indigenous conditions for development, and his critique of the Western models of modernization were quite influential among the better educated Iranian public in 1960s and 1970s.
15 Ali Sahri‘ati (1933–1977). A Sorbonne-educated sociologist whose project of reconstruction of Islamic thought by using insights from Western systems of thought such as socialism and existentialism was popular and influential amongst the Iranian educated class in the years prior to the Islamic revolution.
16 Şādiq Hedāyat (1902–1950). A leading literary figure who was a pioneer in introducing modern styles of literature to the Iranian public. Despite his relatively short life (he committed suicide in Paris at the age of 48), Hedāyat has had a lasting effect on the generations of Iranian intellectuals. With his romantic outlook, Hedāyat was critical of some aspects of the Islamic tradition and in his writings used to praise Iran's pre-Islamic civilization. He was also critical of the Western civilization in a Kafkaesque manner.
17 Horkheimer, M., and Adorno, T., “The Concept of Enlightenment,” reprinted in Dialectic of Enlightenment, trans. Cumming, John (London, 1979): 3–32Google Scholar, Per. trans. Farhādpur, M., Aghanoon 3, vol. 21–22 (1996)Google Scholar.
18 Popper, K. R., The Open Society and Its Enemies (London, 1945)Google Scholar.
19 Popper, K. R., Conjectures and Refutations (London, 1963)Google Scholar.
20 Nožari, Ḥossein, Re-reading Habermas (Tehran, 2002)Google Scholar.
21 Ḥaqiqi, Shāhrokh, “Bāz-Khāni Na-yandishideh Habermas” [A Thoughtless Re-reading of Habermas] Negāh-e Nou 5, no. 61–62 (May and August 2004)Google Scholar.
22 Habermas, Jürgen, Communication and the Evolution of Society, trans. McCarthy, Thomas (Boston, 1979)Google Scholar.
23 Habermas, Jürgen, The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity: Twelve Lectures, trans. Lawrence, Fredrick (Cambridge, 1987)Google Scholar.
24 Paya, Ali, “Karl Popper and Iranian Intellectuals,” Journal of American Islamic Social Sciences 20, no. 2 (2003): 50–79CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Paya, Ali and Ghaneirad, Moḥammad Amin, “The Philosopher and the Revolutionary State: How Karl Popper's Ideas Shaped the Views of Iranian Intellectuals,” International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 20, no. 2 (2006): 185–213CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
25 Dars-hā-iie dar Falsafe-ye ‘Elme al-Ejtem‘ā [Lessons in the Philosophy of Social Sciences] (Tehran, 1995).
26 For Popper's influence on Iranian intellectuals including Soroush, see Paya, Ali, “Karl Popper and Iranian Intellectuals,” Journal of American Islamic Social Sciences 20, no. 2 (2003): 50–79CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Paya, Ali, “Popper in Iran,” in Karl Popper: A Centenary Assessment, ed. Jarvie, Ian, Milford, Karl and Miller, David (London, 2006)Google Scholar; and Paya, Ali & Ghaneirad, Mohammad Amin, “The Philosopher and the Revolutionary State: How Karl Popper's Ideas Shaped the Views of Iranian Intellectuals,” International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 20, no. 2 (July 2006): 185–213CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
27 Adorno, T. W., et.al. The Positivist Dispute in German Sociology, trans. Adey, Glyn and Frisby, David (London, 1976)Google Scholar.
28 'Soroush, Adolkarim, Dānesh va Arzesh [Knowledge and Value] (Tehran, 1983)Google Scholar.
29 Habermas, Jürgen, Knowledge and Human Interests, trans. Shapiro, Jeremy (Boston, 1971a)Google Scholar.
30 We have discussed Peymān's views and the ways he has used Habermas's ideas in constructing his system in a separate paper: Ali Paya and Mohammad Amin Ghaneirad, “A Muslim Intellectual and his Habermasian Interpretation of Islam,” (forthcoming, 2007).
31 Hajjāriyan, Saeed, Az Shāhed-e Qodsi tā Shāhed-e Bāzāri: ‘Urfi Shodan-e Din dar Sepeher-e Siyāsat [From the Sacred Witness to the Profane Witness: The Secularization of Religion in the Sphere of Politics] (Tehran, 2001)Google Scholar.
32 Khāniki, Hādi, Qodrat, Jam‘e-ye Madani va Maţbu‘at [Power, Civil Society and the Press], (Tehran, 2002)Google Scholar.
33 Ganji, Akbar, “Zistan dar Jāhani Āzād: Habermas-e Terrorist va Mollā ‘Omar-e Utopianist” [Living in a Free World: Habermas the Terrorist and Molla Omar the Utopist] Aftāb 11 (2001): 4–7Google Scholar.
34 Lyotard, J. F., Postmodern Condition: Report on Knowledge (Manchester, 1979/1984)Google Scholar.
35 Ganji, “Zistan dar Jāhani Azād,” 6.
36 Mas'oud Pedram, “Naz˙ariyh-ye Enteqādi” [Critical Theory] in Iran-e Fardā no. 29 (1996): 5; Pedram, M., “Ham-naz˙ary miyān-e Shari‘ati va maktab-e Frankfort: ‘aqlāniyat-e modern [Similarities between the views of Shariati and the Frankfurt School: Modern Rationality]. Paper presented at the Conference on Re-thinking Shari‘ati's Views (Mashad, 2000)Google Scholar; Pedram, M., Roshanfekrān va Modernite [Intellectuals and Modernity] (Tehran, 2003)Google Scholar.
37 According to Pedrām (2000, 2003), Shari‘ati, who was highly influenced by Hegel and the young Marx, became familiar with Humanist Marxism through Sartre's works and produced a philosophical-sociological interpretation of modernity which can be regarded as the “Oriental counterpart of the Critical Theory.” Shari‘ati himself points out that he has found similarities between his own views and those of Marcuse's One Dimensional Man. Shari‘ati makes this point to emphasize that he has come to the same ideas via an independent route which has been informed and inspired, among other things, by some of the themes in a mystical interpretation of Islam.
38 Calculating reason, according to Shari‘ati, is an abstract, logical, calculating, power devoid of any emotion which ‘discovers only facts and makes use of these facts as means for achieving those ends which it has chosen according to some particular interests’. Such a reason, ‘while it furnishes the human beings and the society with rapid rational progress, attenuates many aspects of human life’ (1980). In other words, calculating reason paves the way for the emergence of a one-dimensional man: “while man can grasp many of the values and beauties, which are non-rational, by means of ‘mature reason’, the absolute dominance of ‘calculating reason’ causes these values to be neglected and diminished.”
