The Relationship between Epistemology and Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi’s Political Thought

Abstract

<em>Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi is one of Neo-Sadraic philosophers among influential political personalities in contemporary Iran, representing theories within philosophical realm and political thinking. In this paper, we are going to find an answer to the question of what relationship there is between epistemological viewpoints of Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi and his political thoughts, (question). To do so, using analytical-descriptive technique based on text-to-text interpretation of Leo Straus. We will show that generally his political thoughts and specifically his theories about government are based on epistemology having four layers, namely, experimental insight, intellectual insight, intuitive insight, and revelational insight (methodology). And it is according to this very epistemological thought that his political thinking has an elitist form (hypothesis). In this paper, first three cases of types of knowledge, value of knowledge, and tools of knowledge from Mesbah Yazdi's viewpoint have been addressed, and then his political thoughts have been briefly represented. We conclude that the relationship between epistemology and political thoughts of Mesbah Yazdi is of constructive kind, that is, his political thinking has an epistemological base.</em>