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Between Truth and Democracy: Mostafa Malekian’s Spiritual Intellectualism

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Post-Islamist Political Theory

Part of the book series: Philosophy and Politics - Critical Explorations ((PPCE,volume 5))

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Abstract

This chapter deals with Mostafa Malekian’s social and political thought. After an overview of Malekian’s spirituality thesis and his view on the relationship between reason and religion, I discuss his outlook on the social ethos of spiritual citizens in which he lists the virtues that, following from his rationality and spirituality thesis, citizens of a well-ordered democracy would follow. The third part of this chapter focuses on Malekina’s theory of toleration and his particular defense of political secularism. Malekian argues that one of our fundamental moral duties is to seek the truth while another is to follow justice. The latter obliges us to behave tolerantly towards others when the first duty does not apply, i.e. in those cases were a clear and definite (objective in-practice) truth is unavailable. The last part of this chapter includes an evaluation of Malekian’s thesis on the relationship between truth and democracy from the perspective of political liberalism. Drawing on Rawls’s political philosophy, I argue that Malekian’s theory of toleration suffers from a confusion between the demands of acting morally in the public and private spheres.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See Malekian, “Ruh-e Naaram-e Yek Roshanfekr”, pp. 26–27. For Malekian’s intellectual biography, see Malekian, “Ruh-e Naaram-e Yek Roshanfekr”; Malekian, “Salhaye Daneshjui Man”; Sadeghi-Boroujerdi, “Mostafa Malekian: Spirituality, Siyasat-Zadegi and (A)political Self-Improvement”, specially pp. 282–286; Malekian, “Ruykardhaye Motafavet dar Tarikh-e Falsafe-Negari”, pp. 7–9.

  2. 2.

    Malekian, “Manaviyat Gohar-e Adyan (1)”, pp. 274–275.

  3. 3.

    Malekian, “Manaviyat Gohar-e Adyan (1)”, p. 300.

  4. 4.

    Malekian, “Manaviyat Gohar-e Adyan (1)”, p. 280.

  5. 5.

    Malekian, “Manaviyat Gohar-e Adyan (1)”, pp. 275–285.

  6. 6.

    See Kant, “An Answer to the Question ‘What is Enlightenment?’”.

  7. 7.

    See Locke, “Of Faith and Reason, and Their Distinct Provinces”; Malekian (translator), “Dar Bab-e Aql va Iman va Sahathaye Motamayeze Anha”.

  8. 8.

    See Malekain, “Aqlaniyat va Manaviyat Pas az Dah Sal” [Rationality and Spirituality after 10 Years], pp. 8–9. (The page numbers refer to the pdf version of this lecture.); Malekian, “Ruh-e Naaram-e Yek Roshanfekr”, p. 24.

  9. 9.

    Malekian, “Aqlaniyat va Manaviyat Pas az Dah Sal”, pp. 2–6.

  10. 10.

    See Malekian. “Az Roshanfekri-ye Manavi Defa Mikonam”.

  11. 11.

    See Malekian, “Manaviyat Gohar-e Adyan (1)”, p. 299.

  12. 12.

    On early Malekian, see Malekian, “Manaviyat Gohar-e Adyan (1)”, Malekian. “Manaviyat Gohar-e Adyan (2)”, Malekian. “Porseshhai Piramune Manaviyat”. Malekian’s later rhetoric on spirituality and religiosity can be found in various lectures and interviews, including Malekain, “Aqlaniyat va Manaviyat Pas az Dah Sal”; Malekian, “Sazgari-ye Manaviyat va Modernite”; Malekian, “Az Roshanfekri-ye Manavi Defa Mikonam”.

  13. 13.

    cf. Malekian, “Taqrir-e Haqiqat va Taqlil-e Mararat”, especially pp. 3–12, 28–29.

  14. 14.

    See Malekian, “Aglaniyat va Manaviyat pas az Dah sal”, p. 1. On the place of Malekian in religious intellectual history, see also Mansour Hashemi, “Andishmand-e Doreye Esteqrar: Malekian dar Tarikh-e Roshanfekriye Iran”, where it is argued that Malekian’s rationality and spirituality thesis is both “a continuation of”, and “a turning point in”, the religious intellectual movement; cf. Naraghi, “Ayande-ye Marjaiyat-e Fekr-e Dini”.

  15. 15.

    Mojtahed Shabestari, “Naqd-e Tafakor-e Kalamiye Sonati dar Eslam-e Moaser”, pp. 189–190.

  16. 16.

    al-Rad Surah, Verse 11; in Arabic: Innallaha la yuqayyiru ma bi qavmin hatta yuqayyiru ma bi anfusihim. On the priority of culture thesis, see Malekian, “Mabaniye Farhangiye Demokrasi”, p. 6; Malekian, “Mabani-ye Nazari-ye Eslahtalabi”, p. 43; Malekian, “Taqrir-e Haqiqat va Taqlil-e Mararat”, p. 14; Malekian, “Dar Defa az Esalat-e Farhang va Naqde Siyasatzadegi”.

  17. 17.

    See Malekian, “Roshanfekriye Dini va Eslahat-e Ejtemai”, pp. 293–294; Malekian, “Roshanfekri: Namayandegiye Farhangi ya Davariye Farhangi?”; cf. Malekain, “Aqlaniyat va Manaviyat Pas az Dah Sal”, p. 10.

  18. 18.

    See Ganji, The Road to Democracy in Iran, p. 27.

  19. 19.

    See Cooper, “Socrates (469-399 BC)”, in Routledge Encyclopaedia of Philosophy; Malekian, “Roshanfekri: Namayandegiye Farhangi ya Davariye Farhangi?”, pp. 455–456.

  20. 20.

    See Soroush, “Types of Religiosity”.

  21. 21.

    On Rawls’s distinction between political and moral autonomies, see Rawls, Political Liberalism, pp. 72–81; cf. Habermas’s distinction between public and private autonomies, and their respective definitions, in Habermas, Between Facts and Norms, pp. 122–123. For a critique of Malekian’s view of religiosity from a Soroushian perspective, see Dabbagh, “Taabod va Modern Budan”; cf. Naraghi’s essay on the logic of religious reform, which defends a minimalist approach to rationality, in contrast to Malekian’s more demanding maximalist view of reason: Naraghi, “Sonnatgerayi dar Qalamro-e Din”.

  22. 22.

    See Malekian, “Taqrir-e Haqiqat va Taqlil-e Mararat”, pp. 9–33; cf. Ross, The Right and the Good; Ross, Foundations of Ethics & Philip Stratton-Lake’s “Introduction” to The Right and the Good—especially where he discusses Ross’s views on ‘Prima Facie Duties’, ‘Pluralism about the Good’, and ‘Self-Evidence’, pp. xxxiii–xlix.

    For a good elaboration on Ross’s theory of prima facie moral duties in Persian, see Dabbagh, “Akhlaq-e Vazayef-e dar Nazar-e Avval: Nemunei az Aamgerai-ye Akhlaqi-ye Motadel”; cf. Dabbagh, “Mabaniye Akhlaqiye Demokrasi” and Dabbagh, “Andar Bab-e Siyasat va Akhlaq”, where Dabbagh uses Ross’s theory of prima facie duties to argue for our moral duty to be liberal democrats.

  23. 23.

    See Malekian, “Taqrir-e Haqiqat, Taqlil-e Mararat”, pp. 28–32.

  24. 24.

    See Malekian, “Taqrir-e Haqiqat va Taqlil-e Mararat”, pp. 19–27.

  25. 25.

    See Malekian, “Mabaniye Farhangiye Demokrasi”. All page numbers in this chapter refer to the script prepared and edited by Ebrahim Haidari. A less accurate edition of this script, in addition to a critique, is available at Hamidiye, “Naqd-e Didgahhaye Mostafa Malekian: Mabaniye Farhangiye Demokrasi”.

  26. 26.

    On the ethics of belief, see Malekian, “Tafakor-e Naqadane dar Akhlaq-e Bavar Rishe Darad”.

  27. 27.

    Malekian, “Mabaniye Farhangiye Demokrasi”, pp. 8–10; cf. Malekian, “Aqideparasti”.

  28. 28.

    See Rawls, Political Liberalism, pp. 54–58.

  29. 29.

    See Plato, Republic, Book III, 412e–414d.

  30. 30.

    See also Malekian, “Sekularism va Hokumat-e Dini”, pp. 262–265.

  31. 31.

    Malekian, “Mabaniye Farhangiye Demokrasi”, pp. 11–21; On the spiritual virtue of working, see also Malekian, “Mabani-ye Nazari-ye Eslahtalabi”, pp. 58–59.

  32. 32.

    See Malekian, “Na Sosyalist-e Ideolojik, Na Liberalist-e Ideolojik”, pp. 64–65.

  33. 33.

    See Malekian, “Seyri dar Sepehr-e Akhlaq”.

  34. 34.

    See Ross, The Right and the Good, p. 15.

  35. 35.

    Ibid, pp. 29–30.

  36. 36.

    See Philip Stratton-Lake, “Introduction”, The Right and the Good.

  37. 37.

    See Malekian, “Melliyat; Tavahom ya Vaqeiyat”.

  38. 38.

    See Malekian, “Melliyat; Tavahom ya Vaqeiyat”; cf. Malekian, “Ba Nasionalism-e Mobtani bar Arzesh va Davari Mokhalefam”.

  39. 39.

    Malekian, “Ba Nasionalism-e Mobtani bar Arzesh va Davari Mokhalefam”.

  40. 40.

    See Kant, “Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch”.

  41. 41.

    See Malekian, “Melliyat; Tavahom ya Vaqeiyat”.

  42. 42.

    This theory is presented in these essays: Malekian, “Mabani-ye Nazari-ye”; Malekian, “Sekularism va Hokumat-e Dini”; Malekian, “Mabani-ye Nazari-ye Eslahtalabi”, specially pp. 34–42.

  43. 43.

    See Malekian, “Mabani-ye Nazari-ye Modara”, pp. 117–118; Malekian, “Sekularism va Hokumat-e Dini”, pp. 255–256. Some of the examples are mine, inspired by Malekian’s examples and explanations in these pages.

  44. 44.

    Malekian, “Mabani-ye Nazari-ye Modara”, p. 118.

  45. 45.

    See Malekian, “Goftegu dar bareye Hakemiyat-e Dini”, p. 360.

  46. 46.

    Malekian, “Mabani-ye Nazari-ye Modara”, pp. 121–122; Malekian, “Sekularism va Hokumat-e Dini”, p. 251.

  47. 47.

    Malekian, “Mabani-ye Nazari-ye Modara”, p. 124.

  48. 48.

    See Malekian, “Mabani-ye Nazari-ye Modara”, p. 120. For a discussion about the difference between subjects and objects of toleration, see Kabasakal Badamchi, “Is Toleration Possible and Morally Relevant in the International Realm?”, the section on “Agents and Objects of International Toleration”, pp. 9–10.

  49. 49.

    Malekian, “Mabani-ye Nazari-ye Eslahtalabi”, pp. 59–60; cf. Malekian, “Sekularism va Hokumat-e Dini”, p. 252.

  50. 50.

    Malekian, “Mabani-ye Nazari-ye Modara”, p. 119.

  51. 51.

    Ibid, p. 125.

  52. 52.

    See Kierkegaard, “Truth in Subjectivity”, p. 403; Malekian (translator), “Anfosi Budan Haqiqat Ast”, p. 30; cf. Malekian (translator), “Adelle-ye Kierkegaard bar Zedde Estedlal-e Afaqi dar Din”; Minton, “Kierkegaard and Truth as Subjectivity”.

  53. 53.

    Malekian, “Akhlaq-e Eslahat”, pp. 94–97.

  54. 54.

    See Malekian, “Sekularism va Hokumat-e Dini”, pp. 257–258; Malekian, “Mabani-ye Nazari-ye Eslahtalabi”, pp. 34–42. The example is modified to become more comprehensible. Malekian’s original example concerns a state governed by “Imam Ali’s justice”, instead of the guardianship of the jurist.

  55. 55.

    On the relationship between dividing the propositions into in principle objective, in practice objective and subjective beliefs, the rationality and spirituality thesis, and the Enlightenment philosophers’ idea of scientific rationality, see Malekian. Iman va Taaqol: Darsgoftarhaye Falsafe Din: 1380–1382, pp. 223–237.

  56. 56.

    See for example Rawls’s ‘Introduction’ to the paperback edition, and Lecture VI of Political Liberalism.

  57. 57.

    See Ferrara, The Democratic Horizon, pp. 26–27. For another useful discussion on the ideas of public and private from a liberal perspective, see Kymlicka, Contemporary Political Philosophy, pp. 386–398.

  58. 58.

    See Ferrara, The Democratic Horizon, p. 28.

  59. 59.

    Rawls, “The Idea of Public Reason Revisited”, p. 767.

  60. 60.

    Ferrara, The Democratic Horizon, p. 190, emphasis original; cf. Ferrara, The Democratic Horizon, pp. 186–209.

  61. 61.

    On the relationship between truth and public reason, and the necessity of allowing a limited idea of truth to have a role in political liberalism, see also Cohen, “Truth and Public Reason”.

  62. 62.

    See for example Plato, Gorgias, 463d1–465e1; Plato, Republic, Book VI.

  63. 63.

    See Estlund, “Making Truth Safe for Democracy”, especially p. 72, 84; Copp, “Could Political Truth be a Hazard for Democracy”, especially pp. 107–108; cf. Estlund, Democratic Authority.

  64. 64.

    See Grofman & Feld, “Rousseau’s General Will: A Condorcetian Perspective”, (quoted in Estlund, “Making Truth Safe”, p. 92); Estlund, Waldron, Grofman & Feld, “Democratic Theory and the Public Interest: Condorcet and Rousseau Revisited”; cf. Estlund, Democratic Authority.

  65. 65.

    See Ferrara, The Democratic Horizon, p. 191.

  66. 66.

    See Ferrara, The Democratic Horizon, p. 190.

  67. 67.

    Ibid.

  68. 68.

    See Ferrara, The Democratic Horizon, p. 190. Emphasis original.

  69. 69.

    A similar objection to Malekian’s theory of secularism and toleration was presented by Hossein Kachuyan, an Islamist professor of sociology in Tehran University, in a debate. See Kachuyan & Malekian, “Sekularsim, Bavarhaye Dini, va Hokumat”.

  70. 70.

    See Malekian, “Olaviyat-e Falsafe bar Demokrasi”, especially pp. 187–191; Rorty, “The Priority of Democracy to Philosophy”. Rorty’s article is also translated into Persian as, Deyhimi, (trans.), Rorty, Olaviyat-e Demokrasi bar Falsafe, Tehran: Tarh-e No.

  71. 71.

    See Kymlicka, Contemporary Political Philosophy, p. 290.

  72. 72.

    See Kymlicka, Contemporary Political Philosophy, p. 291; cf. Kymlicka, Badamchi & Mobasheri (trans.), Daramadi bar Falsafeye Siyasiye Moaser, Chapter 7.

  73. 73.

    See Malekian, “Ruh-e Naaram-e Yek Roshanfekr”, pp. 25–26.

  74. 74.

    See Sadeghi-Boroujerdi, “Mostafa Malekian: Spirituality, Siyasat-Zadegi and (A)political Self-Improvement”, pp. 306–307. For another critique of Malekian’s apoliticism and his reduction of politics to moralism, see Ayatollahi, “Dar Naqd-e Ravesh va Manesh-e Roshanfekriye Mostafa Malekian”; especially section II entitled: ‘Az Siyasatgorizi dar Esalat-e Farhang ta Akhlaqgerai dar Siyasat-e Ruz’ [From Apoliticism in the Priority of Culture to Moralism in Daily Politics].

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    Meysam Badamchi

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Badamchi, M. (2017). Between Truth and Democracy: Mostafa Malekian’s Spiritual Intellectualism. In: Post-Islamist Political Theory. Philosophy and Politics - Critical Explorations, vol 5. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59492-7_7

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