A Typology of Iranian Intellectualism Based on Different Perceptions of Modern Reason

The purpose of the present study is to review the views and ideas of contemporary intellectuals, emphasizing on how western modern elements such as self-founded reason are reflected and reproduced by them. In this regard, the main research question explores the relationship between Iranian intellectuals’ perception of modern reason and their interpretation of the relationship between modernity and tradition. It seems that we can classify the perception of Iranian intellectuals from the modern world and the relation between Iranian traditions and this world, under the influence of their understanding and definition of modern reason, into 3 following groups: Some intellectuals, such as Molkom Khān, who have an instrumental perception of modern reason get into a kind of absolute acceptance and admiration of modern world and reject tradition; some other intellectuals, such as Bashiriyeh, who have a dialectic perception of modern reason try to make a compromise between tradition and modernism and tradition dialectic and modernity; and the third group of intellectuals who are under the influence of postmodern views, such as Mohammad Mojtahed Shabesari, attempt to expand their ideas using hermeneutic method.