{"id":173,"date":"2018-12-04T06:56:33","date_gmt":"2018-12-04T11:56:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/psci257-f18\/?p=173"},"modified":"2018-12-04T06:58:58","modified_gmt":"2018-12-04T11:58:58","slug":"revisited-on-what-basis-modernity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/psci257-f18\/uncategorized\/revisited-on-what-basis-modernity\/","title":{"rendered":"Revisited: On What Basis, Modernity?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In one of our first blogs, I asked you, “On what basis, modernity?”\u00a0\u00a0Religious Statecraft<\/em> gives us an opportunity to revisit the question, but with a sharper empirical focus on the relationship between sources of legitimacy, authority, and modern outcomes.\u00a0 Take the questions below about Machiavelli and apply them to Tabaar’s text:\u00a0 How\u00a0is Iran, as a matter of practice and of policy<\/em>, becoming modern?<\/p>\n

On what basis, modernity—through the cleansing influence of the sacred, via the guidance of a\u00a0faqih<\/em>, or jurisprudent?\u00a0 Or is modernity to be achieved by the consent of the ruled, the “flock,” as it were, the\u00a0ummah<\/em>?\u00a0 Or is there a balance or negotiation between these two sources of modern “truth?”\u00a0 What is the balance between the sacred, the fixed, and the contingent, and could it be that the public will embodies both of these, as we discussed in class?\u00a0 \u00a0You don’t need to answer all of these questions, but please use specific answers and examples drawn from\u00a0Religious Statecraft<\/em>.<\/p>\n

From September 18, 2018:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The fragility of control plays a prominent if under appreciated role in Machiavelli’s\u00a0The Prince<\/em>. \u00a0In contrast to Lerner’s triumphalism (“I had it on top authority that during the summer of 1950 they had entered History”) or the harrowing implacability of “the Party” in\u00a0Darkness at Noon<\/em>, Machiavelli describes a world of constant variability and uncertainty. \u00a0No prince, no matter how savvy or cruel, can rest easy on his throne, circumstances and the variability of being his constant and insuperable foes.<\/p>\n

Machiavelli leads us to the conclusion that there are no universal solutions, no easy recipes or checklists to follow in pursuing “the modern,” however defined. \u00a0Origins, the circumstances of coming combine with unforeseen events to make modernization a project forever uncertain and under siege.<\/p>\n

We might ask, then, On what basis modernity?<\/em>\u00a0 The matter of legitimacy and authority has been at stake these past two weeks, whether of the Shah, of the multitude who comprise “the many,” or of the reasoning individual, who having adjusted his or her sights to the light outside of the cave, comes back to dispense capital-T Truth. \u00a0What or who is the source of modernity? \u00a0Might it be the individual, reaching for truth in the realm of the profane? \u00a0Or does modernity require the ballast of “fixed truths,” of a sacred authority that lies outside of the will and reason of the individual? \u00a0Might History be that source, or religion itself? \u00a0How might authority be reconciled to the individual will?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In one of our first blogs, I asked you, “On what basis, modernity?”\u00a0\u00a0Religious Statecraft gives us an opportunity to revisit the question, but with a sharper empirical focus on the relationship between sources of legitimacy, authority, and modern outcomes.\u00a0 Take … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1690,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/psci257-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/psci257-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/psci257-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/psci257-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1690"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/psci257-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/psci257-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":176,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/psci257-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173\/revisions\/176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/psci257-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/psci257-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/psci257-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}