Henry Corbin’s Oriental Philosophy and Iranian Nativist Ideologies

Ahmad Bostani

doi:10.3390/rel12110997

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.

Highlights

Henry Corbin (1903–1978) was an influential scholar of Islamic philosophy and Shiite theology who edited, translated, and introduced several important works of crucial Muslim thinkers and mystics. His significance to Iranian intellectual history was not confined to his “scholarly” activities as a specialist of Islamic philosophy, Shiism, and Iranian esotericism (Nasr 1977, p. 25)
Some of Corbin’s European disciples have attempted to provide political or social theories based on his conception of esotericism, imagination, and metahistory (e.g., Durand 1977; Jambet 1983)
Henry Corbin played a significant role in shaping how Iranian nativist intellectuals view their own philosophical and spiritual traditions. His presence in Iran coincided with a sensitive period of government-based development and the rapid modernization of society, which produced strong reactions among intellectuals. His Oriental scheme paved the way for various ideologies based on the rejection of the modern West and the praise of an idealized esoteric East

Summary

Introduction

Henry Corbin (1903–1978) was an influential scholar of Islamic philosophy and Shiite theology who edited, translated, and introduced several important works of crucial Muslim thinkers and mystics His significance to Iranian intellectual history was not confined to his “scholarly” activities as a specialist of Islamic philosophy, Shiism, and Iranian esotericism They emphasize Corbin’s “anti-totalitarian” motivations based on his conception of modern ideologies as secularized versions of ancient theological deviations In some of his works, Corbin briefly offered a theological genealogy of contemporary. Corbin’s disciples in Iran negate the political in the ordinary sense of the term, they would embrace a political ideology within Corbin’s Oriental scheme According to this view, an ideal community should be based on the imaginal connection, which is vertical, hierarchical, and transcendental. The last section concludes on the ideologization of the Oriental philosophy and demonstrates the traces of Corbin’s scheme in the works of a few nativist intellectuals in an ideologized form

Ideologization of Tradition in Contemporary Iran

Henry Corbin and the Oriental Philosophy

Oriental Esotericism and the Political

Corbin’s Legacy and Iranian Nativism

Conclusions