National Interest Studies

Abstract Scientific Discourse Developments in the Fourth Quarter of the Islamic Republic of Iran with an Emphasis on National Interest
Dr.Ebrahim Abbassi
Mehrsa Majdi
Abstract:
Iran has particular complexities, characteristics and certain condi-tion, including strong religious tradition and reproduction of religious values in the globalization era. Therefore, the majority of intellectuals talk about the challenge between tradition and modernity and a gap in the discourse of modernity in Iran. The viewpoints of recent Iranian intellectuals could be categorized in two groups after secularization in Iran: mundane thoughts and worldly thoughts. The discourse of worl-dly intellectuals shows the harmony between religion and world, func-tional attitudes toward religion, the privatization of religion and multi-level attitude towards Islam. The attitude of intellectuals toward secul-arization has structural problems. The secularization needs approp-riate conditions that don’t shape because of religion’s power and min-dset of Iranians. The secularization has suffered from the lack of strong philosophical, religious and social backgrounds. Social and political development indicate a change in the functions of theocracy because of introduction of religious doctrines to the field of politics and execution. Religion is dominant discourse in social, political, personal, cultural and economic sphere. Moreover, it has shaped behavioral, behavioral, mental, and occult pattern of religious Iranians and their all episteme-ological layers.
Key Words:Iran, Secularization, Epistemology, Intellectuals, Globa-lization
 

Abstract Secularism in the Opinion of Western Thinkers
Dr. Abdul Rahman Alem
Reza Nasiri
Abstract:
Although concepts such as secularization, mundane and worldly have similar meaning, there are some differences between them. However, the secularization has three characteristics: 1) decline in the role of religion to give meaning to the social sphere, 2) structural difference: there is a distinction between religious institutions and worldly institution, 3) transition from religious behavior and perception to worldly one. The secularism is inseparable from modernity. Modernity is a culture and religion and not similar to geography and history. Western modernization is so powerful to make everything similar to itself. So, divine religions would be faced with challenges by expansion of modernization. Secularism acknowledges the religion in the society, but it insists on its principles: 1) the religion has to be separable from politics and government 2) the religion has to acknowledge the exclusive authority of natural science, 3) the religion doesn’t have to rule over the people.
Key Words: Secularism, Worldly, Modernity, Postmodernity