Most of the works on western political thought written in Iran, fall in an intermediary position between the two approaches of historiographical and ideological types. By historiography I mean an approach that, giving centrality to discussing elaborately the historical
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Most of the works on western political thought written in Iran, fall in an intermediary position between the two approaches of historiographical and ideological types. By historiography I mean an approach that, giving centrality to discussing elaborately the historical chronology of formation of a political thought, and biographies of the scholars in the field, neglects to analyze, criticize, and evaluate it. The second type of the works on western political thought is of ideological quality that giving centrality to a particular thought follows a biased approach to it. Such works try to promote an ideology regardless of the explanatory and analytical requirement for an argument.
The present article, studying features and consequences of the two approaches in Iranian works on western political thought, attempts to show the necessity for studying it with the sociological approach to thought, whose comprehensive and deep look at a political thought helps to closely understand it in its historical, cultural, political, economical, ideological aspects, and above all, its reflective view. Since a reflective view gives especial importance to the understanding and the criticism resulting from background conditions, subjective nature of cognition, and identity- cultural structures, it can help us with getting rid of the circle of imitation and repetition, and publicizing indigenous thought, more than any other models.
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