West & Modernity from Perspective of Hossein Nasr

The West and Modernity from the Perspective of Seyyed Hossein Nasr, written by Mohammadreza Ghaemi-Nik, has been published by the Publishing Organization of the Institute for Research on Culture and Islamic Thought. Throughout his personal and intellectual life, Seyyed Hossein Nasr has consistently stood at critical junctures between “us,” the West, and modernity. He began his education in the modern West, yet it was there that he developed an inclination toward traditionalism—an orientation to which he has remained faithful ever since.

Upon returning to Iran, despite studying under great masters of Islamic sciences and becoming known as a tradition-oriented scholar educated in modernity at the University of Tehran, he held very high-ranking positions within the government of the second Pahlavi era, a state that actively promoted modernization. After the Islamic Revolution, he continued to emphasize his name, identity, thought, and deep Islamic–Iranian affiliation, yet he was inevitably compelled to live in a land that is itself a symbol of Western modernity. This unique position appears to provide sufficient grounds for a careful and critical study of his views on modernity and the West.