Reconsideration of the Aspects and Scope of the Concept of Tradition

The present article is the product of a cognitive research. It has focused on the conceptual exploration of “tradition”, its reconsideration and dimensions. Therefore, different interpretations about tradition have been investigated. There has been an examination of the cognitive concept of tradition in comparison with its similar and contrasting concepts under western theories. Also, in addition to posing a few conceptual questions, the capability of this concept for illuminating the theoretical mechanism and intellectual system of theoreticians have been questioned. In the end, having established a certain kind of connection between the necessity of tradition and the preliminaries to its conceptualization, and also in regard to various theories such as modernism, postmodernism and communitarianism, under which tradition has been discussed, it has been emphasized through an inductive reasoning that tradition, as an inexorable concept, consists of four components: In the first place, it articulates and strengthens those assumptions which people utilize unquestionably in leading their everyday lives. In the second place, it presents an understanding and explanation of the world and in the third, in its Weberian interpretation, tradition is considered to be a resource for legitimizing the authority which is exerted and which leads to traditional power. And finally, through transmitting values, beliefs and behavior from the past to the present, it is regarded as a source of identification.