Political Islam, Iran, and the Enlightenment Philosophies of Hope and Despair [Paperback]

This book argues that the discourse of political Islam has strong connections to important, disturbing currents in Western philosophy and intellectual trends.Ali Mirsepassis book presents a powerful challenge to the dominant media and scholarly construction of radical Islamist politics, and their anti-Western ideology, as a purely Islamic phenomenon derived from insular, traditional, and monolithic religious foundations. It argues that the discourse of political Islam has strong connections to important and disturbing currents in Western philosophy and modern Western intellectual trends. We are also introduced to new democratic narratives of modernity linked to diverse intellectual trends in the West and in non-Western societies. As the first book to make such connections, it promises to be an important contribution to the field and will do much to overturn some long-held and pervasive assumptions about the dichotomy between East and West.Ali Mirsepassis book presents a powerful challenge to the dominant media and scholarly construction of radical Islamist politics, and their anti-Western ideology, as a purely Islamic phenomenon derived from insular, traditional, and monolithic religious foundations. It argues that the discourse of political Islam has strong connections to important and disturbing currents in Western philosophy and modern Western intellectual trends. We are also introduced to new democratic narratives of modernity linked to diverse intellectual trends in the West and in non-Western societies. As the first book to make such connections, it promises to be an important contribution to the field and will do much to overturn some long-held and pervasive assumptions about the dichotomy between East and West.Ali Mirsepassis book presents a powerful challenge to the dominant media and scholarly construction of radical Islamist politics, and their anti-Western ideology, as a purely Islamic phenomenon derived from insular, traditional, and monolithic rl3*