A Study of the Symbolism of Politico-Intellectual Trend of Principlism with an Emphasis on the Term " People"

In this paper, using the structuralist theories for the study of symbolism in the field of politics, it has been sought to define and delineate the term “people” as a symbol within the politico-intellectual framework of principlism. Therefore, I have first studied and explained the position of symbols in the whole system of language from the viewpoint of the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure. Then I have explained the ideas of RolanBart concerning the functional mechanism of symbols, the two concepts of explicit and implicit meanings and the concept of myth and its relation with implicit indication. Then, referring to the above theoretical arguments, the politico-intellectual trend of principlism has been made subject to a symbolistic analysis as text. Therefore, the relation between two components of the symbols of principlism (i.e. indicator and meaning) and the relation of the symbols of this system with each other have been explained. Then themeanings of the term “people” have been studied from a symbolistic perspective and its various meanings in different textures and texts have been explained. In view of this, symbols such as Islam, divine codes,guardianship of jurisprudent and the relation of its substitution with Western style democratic or secularist governments in the words of principlist political thinkers, especially Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, have been examined.