Philosophical Interrogation and Creation of Democracy: Iran Confronts Modern Destiny

In: Thesis eleven: critical theory and historical sociology, Heft 32, S. 103-107

Abstract

Comparative reflections are offered on Western modernity & Iranian Islamic fundamentalism. It is argued that there is a constant back-&-forth movement between philosophical interrogation & the political project of democracy in Western modernity, while in Islamic societies, there exists a direct link between the absence of a public space for democratic deliberation & the absence of philosophical interrogation. A definition of philosophical interrogation is developed, & it is concluded that, in Iran, it is not a matter of choosing to, or not to, adopt Western institutions & values, but of creating the conditions that make this choice possible. W. Howard