Individualism, Socialism or Both; A comparative study of Professor Motahhari and Professor Mesbah Yazdi

The discussion of socialism has been considered as one of the principles of theoretical philosophy of history. This is the question: Is individualism correct or socialism or is it that according to a third theory, both of them are true. This discussion is comparatively new among Muslim thinkers and probably Allamah Tabatabai paid attention to this subject for the first time; then Shahid Motahhari and Professor Mesbah made some inspections on this subject. Shahid Motahhari defends the view of correctness of both (but along with his special analysis of the subject) and Professor Mesbah criticizes some parts of this view and completely denies the socialism. In this article, the purpose is presenting the perspectives of the two thinkers and a judgment between them and considering the emphasis of both sides on attributing their view to Quran, some verses of Quran will be studied as well. The course of discussion is that after a brief explanation of the three views of individualism, socialism and truth of both, the conceptual principles of the discussion (concept of originality and concept of combination of society) is explained; then explicating the similarities and differences between the two views, an analysis of their philosophical and Quranic reasons and a judgment between the two has been done.