Liberalism in Iran - Iranian Liberal Thought

Iranian Liberal Thought

According to Ramin Jahanbegloo, the unique form of liberalism that has taken hold in the Islamic republic, though complementary with traditional Iranian liberalism, is decidedly original and perceived by its supporters as a more critical project than it was during Foroughi's time. Thanks to the recent discovery and translations of the dominant schools of liberal thought in the Anglo-American world, as found in the works of Isaiah Berlin, John Rawls and Karl Popper, and an appreciation of older liberal traditions (Kantian, Millian or Lockean), a new trend of liberalism has appeared among the younger generation of Iranian intellectuals.

While these contemporary Iranian liberals do not deny that the liberties appropriate to a liberal society can be derived from a theory or stated in a system of principles, but their view of a liberal society is related to a view of humanity and truth as inherently unfinished, incomplete, and self-transforming. He further argues that it is impossible for the fundamental principles of Iranian liberalism to be grounded in “religious truth”, because the very idea of free agency, as understood by Iranian liberals, is in opposition with any form of determinism (either religious or historical).

Jahanbegloo further contends that in a country like Iran, where the logic of the theological-political is still absolute and where there is a single master-value, the principal goal of the liberal movement is to campaign for a pluralism of ethical values and modes of being. This is to say, the chief task of Iranian liberalism is establishing a proper balance between critical rationality and political decency. The historical lack of liberalism, symbolized by the rise of radicalism in the Iranian revolution (both on the left and right), committed a huge injury to Iranians commonsense ways of political thought and political action, and led to deep confusion about questions of moral responsibility and collective human solidarity. As a means of comparison, the French existentialist philosopher and political activist Jean Paul Sartre (d. 1980), is quoted as beginning his essay entitled The Republic of Silence in a provocative manner, by saying that, "We were never more free than under the German occupation." By this Sartre means that each gesture had the weight of a commitment during the Vichy period in France (July 1940 to August 1944). Jahanbegloo frequently repeated this phrase in relation to Iran. He further explains this comparison by contending that:

It sounds very paradoxical, but... we have never been more free than under the Islamic Republic. By this I mean that the day Iran is democratic, Iranian intellectuals will put less effort into struggling for the idea of democracy and for liberal values. In Iran today, the rise of hedonist and consumerist individualism, spurred by the pace of urbanization and instrumental modernization after the 1979 Revolution, was not accompanied by a wave of liberal measures. In the early days of the revolution, liberals were attacked by Islamic as well as leftist groups as enemies and betrayers of the Revolution. The Iranian hostage crisis (1979-1981) sounded the death knell for the project of liberalism in Iran. (Ramin Jahanbegloo)