Political Islam, Iran, and the enlightenment : philosophies of hope and despair / Ali Mirsepassi.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mirsepassi, Ali, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Heidegger, Martin, 1889-1976--Influence.

Heidegger, Martin.

Dewey, John, 1859-1952--Influence.

Dewey, John.

Intellectuals--Political activity--Iran.

Intellectuals.

Islam and politics--Iran.

Islam and politics.

Politics and culture--Iran.

Politics and culture.

Islam and secularism--Iran.

Islam and secularism.

Islamic modernism--Iran.

Islamic modernism.

Iran--Politics and government.

Iran.

Iran--Intellectual life.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (vii, 230 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Other Title:

Political Islam, Iran, & the Enlightenment

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Ali Mirsepassi's book presents a powerful challenge to the dominant media and scholarly construction of radical Islamist politics, and their anti-Western ideology, as a purely Islamic phenomenon derived from insular, traditional and monolithic religious 'foundations'. It argues that the discourse of political Islam has strong connections to important and disturbing currents in Western philosophy and modern Western intellectual trends. The work demonstrates this by establishing links between important contemporary Iranian intellectuals and the central influence of Martin Heidegger's philosophy. We are also introduced to new democratic narratives of modernity linked to diverse intellectual trends in the West and in non-Western societies, notably in India, where the ideas of John Dewey have influenced important democratic social movements. As the first book to make such connections, it promises to be an important contribution to the field and will do much to overturn some pervasive assumptions about the dichotomy between East and West.

Contents:

Introduction: political Islam's romance with the 'West'

1. Intellectuals and the politics of despair

2. The crisis of the nativist imagination

3. Modernity beyond nativism and universalism

4. Heidegger and Iran: the dark side of being and belonging

5. Democracy and religion in the thought of John Dewey

6. Enlightenment and moral politics

7. Conclusion.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-107-21788-1

0-511-99361-7

0-511-99043-X

0-511-98682-3

0-511-99142-8

0-511-99241-6

1-283-05011-0

0-511-98862-1

9786613050113

0-511-97512-0

OCLC:

700706262