Henry Corbin’s Oriental Philosophy and Iranian Nativist Ideologies

Ahmad Bostani is an assistant professor in Islamic and comparative political theory and the head of the Political Science Department at Kharazmi University, Tehran. He holds a Ph.D. in political philosophy from TMU with a dissertation on the political implications of the imaginal world in Islamic/Iranian philosophy. His area of research includes political theology,

Department of Political Science, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Kharazmi University, Tehran 1571914911, IranAcademic Editors: Kristin Joachimsen and Marianne Hafnor BøeReligions2021, 12(11), 997; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12110997Received: 10 August 2021 / Revised: 10 November 2021 / Accepted: 11 November 2021 / Published: 14 November 2021(This article belongs to the Special Issue Constructions of Persian and Iranian Identity, Ethnicity, and Religion From Ancient Times to the Present)
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Abstract

This paper aims to explore the roots of the nativist discourse among Iranian intellectuals in the 20th century prior to the Islamic Revolution, a discourse based on Eastern authenticity and the felt need for a return to Islamic, Persian, or Asian traditions. This general tendency took various forms among anti- and even pro-regime intellectuals, including severe anti-modernist evaluations of Al-e-Ahmad, Hossein Nasr, Ahmad Fardid, and Ehsan Naraqi. This nativist movement, as some scholars have shown, played a significant role in the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. This paper aims to discuss some philosophical origins of these East-based and anti-West ideologies in the specific interpretation of Henry Corbin of the East/West spiritual split. This paper demonstrates that these ideas, to a considerable extent, stemmed from Corbin’s “Eastern scheme,” based on the authenticity of spiritual illumination. This paper explores how this Oriental philosophy, rooted in ancient Persia and medieval Iranian wisdom, has been used for political purposes through the ideologization of tradition in contemporary Iran. Therefore, it discusses Corbin’s theological scheme’s political and social ramifications to demonstrate the traces of his scheme in the works of a few nativist intellectuals in an ideologized form. View Full-TextKeywords: nativism; authenticity; Oriental philosophy; Persian identity; Henry Corbin

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