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Alborz High School and the Process of Rationalization in Iran

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Farzin Vahdat
Farzin Vahdat*
Affiliation:
Vassar College
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Abstract

As a leading foundational institution of modernity, Alborz High School under the leadership of Dr. Mohammad Ali Mojtahedi came to embody and promote techno-scientific (or instrumental) rationality that has been the dominant form of rationality in Iran in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The essay analyzes this form of rationality and its fostering by Alborz High School during the tenure of Mohammad Ali Mojtahedi. It is argued that while instrumental rationality is necessary for any developing country, it poses fundamental problems for the development of democratic ethos. Alternatively, Jürgen Habermas' notion of “communicative rationality” is proposed and analyzed as a way to complement and democratize Iranian approach toward rationality and modernity

The disease of reason is that reason was born from man's urge to dominate nature, and the “recovery” depends on insight into the nature of the original disease.

Max Horkheimer1

Type
Research Article
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 44 , Issue 5: Alborz College , September 2011 , pp. 731 - 741
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 The International Society for Iranian Studies

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References

1 Horkheimer, Max, Eclipse of Reason (New York, 1974), 119.Google Scholar

2 While in its previous incarnation as the American College of Tehran and later as Alborz College of Tehran under the American administration, the role of Alborz in disseminating modern rationality cannot be overlooked, it was Alborz High School under the leadership of Dr. Mohammad Ali Mojtahedi that stamped techno-scientific rationality on the face of modern Iranian culture by inculcating the ethos of this type of rationality among the young men who would later constitute the executive and cultural elite of the country. For a discussion on the different pedagogic orientation at Alborz under American leadership see the essay by Houchang Chehabi in this collection.

3 By positivism, I mean the general approach that views social, political and cultural progress to be mostly, if not entirely, possible through natural sciences and technology. This approach has deep roots in France, where since after the Revolution of 1789, the dominant mindset and modus operandi among the ruling elite has been grounded in natural and technological sciences. “The Jacobins wanted to mobilize natural science in the service of the nation. In the year of Terror, 1793–94, they established the first engineering university in the world: the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris … [A]n astonishing 9 percent of all persons mentioned in French contemporary biographical dictionaries between 1830 and 1960 were graduates of this institution … The Ecole Polytechnique differed from later, similar institutions in other Western countries in that, to a large extent, it prepared its graduates for higher positions of the civil service. Until recently, Germany and Scandinavian countries were ruled by jurists, while the English civil service was staffed with Oxbridge gentlemen educated in the liberal arts. In the French civil service, however, engineers were perhaps the most influential professionals. The Ecole Polytechnique set a model both for French engineering education and for the French concept of science. It stood for a scientific concept of engineering science, emphasizing natural science, the main didactic principle being mathematical drill.” Jakobsen, Kjetil et al., “Engineering Cultures: European Appropriation of Americanism,” in The Intellectual Appropriation of Technology: Discourses on Modernity, 1900–1939, ed. by Hard, Mikael and Jamison, Andrew (Cambridge, 1998), 111.Google Scholar

4 This way of analyzing the dominant, and in fact hegemonic, form of modern rationality has its roots in the tradition of Critical Theory and what is known as Frankfurt School, represented by thinkers such as Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer and currently by Jürgen Habermas. For thoughts of Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer on the notion of instrumental rationality see Horkheimer, Max and Adorno, Theodor W., The Dialectic of Enlightenment (Stanford, CA, 2002)Google Scholar and Horkheimer, Max, Critique of Instrumental Rationality (New York, 1996).Google Scholar

5 See, for example, Habermas, Jürgen, The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity: Twelve Lectures (Cambridge, MA, 1987), especially chapters 9–11.Google Scholar

6 One of the favorite aphorisms of August Comte, one of the founders of positivism and techno-scientific worldview, as Mary Pickering has observed, was “from science comes prediction; from prediction comes action,” and, one may add, control. See Pickling, Mary, Auguste Comte: An Intellectual Biography, Volume I (Cambridge, 1993), 566.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

7 As Horkheimer and Adorno observed, Francis Bacon (1561–1626), who is regarded as the father of the methodology of modern natural sciences, “well understood the scientific temper which was to come after him. The “happy match” between human understanding and the nature of things that he envisioned is a patriarchal one: the mind, conquering superstition, is to rule over the disenchanted nature” (Dialectic of Enlightenment, 2.). While Horkheimer and Adorno depict domination of nature by humans as wholly negative and undesirable in this context, their overall view of human relation to nature was more complex in other contexts. See, for example, Adorno, Theodor, “Freudian Theory and the Pattern of Fascist Propaganda,” in The Essential Frankfurt School Reader, ed. by Arato, Andrew and Gebhard, Eike (Urizen, 1978).Google Scholar

8 Habermas, The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity: Twelve Lectures, 296 (emphasis added).

9 Habermas, The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity, 297.

10 Habermas, The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity, 297.

11 Habermas, The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity, 297. As Michael Lipscomb explains, “Habermas recognizes, along with his Nietzschean counterparts, that the colonizing force of modern technology and capitalism reveals the link between instrumental reason and power. Habermas parts company with these Nietzschean inspired critiques [e.g., Foucault], however, by refusing to accept that reason, in and of itself, is merely the expression of power. He argues that a careful consideration of rationality's full potential recalls rationality's reflexive, critical capacities. For Habermas, this fuller potential underwrites our social ability to reach understandings about moral-practical problems and aesthetic-expressive disagreements. He hopes that this capacity to negotiate with one another in these spheres could serve as the foundation for a democratically, rationally negotiated politics of action.” Michael E. Lipscomb, “The Theory of Communicative Action and the Aesthetic Moment: Jürgen Habermas and the (neo)Nietzschean Challenge,” New German Critique, no. 86 (Spring–Summer 2002): 136.

12 Yet, the fact that this objectifying attitude toward nature is ultimately responsible for the destruction of natural world, and problems such as global warming and overuse of natural resources, should not be overlooked.

14 Adamiyat, Manuchehr, Sadehnameh Dabirestan Alborz [The Centennial Book of Alborz High School], (Iqbal, Teharn, c. 1354/1975), 26.Google Scholar The discipline at Alborz High School in general was strictly implemented, but it was in the boarding school section that it was more systematically codified. See Sadehnameh (109) for the routine of daily life for students in the boarding section in which daily program of students' activity, starting at 6:15 a.m. and ending at 11:00 p.m., is broken down in precise periods. The daily routine program for the boarding section ends with the phrase: “And this program, without slightest interruption or change, is permanent.” Dr. Mojtahedi imposed the discipline on himself as rigorously as on the students: “During all my life,” he told Lajevardi, Habib, “I go sleep at 8:00, unless I am invited [to a party]. And I rise at 6:00 O'clock. It was the same during my student years. If I break this rule one night, I feel uncomfortable the next day.” (Mojtahedi, Moḥammad Ali and Ladjevardi, Habib, Khaterat-e Mohammad Ali Mojtahedi: rais-e Dabirestan-e Alborz (1323–1357) va Moasses-e Daneshgah-e Ṣanati-e Aryamehr (Sharif) (1344) (Cambridge, MA, 2000), 8).Google Scholar The association between extreme discipline and instrumental/techno-scientific rationality is indeed very close, because the formation of subject that dominates nature and order is nearly impossible without an empowering of the will which, in turn, totally depends on the disciplining of the body. The connection between reason and discipline is most elaborately explored in the discourse of Michel Foucault, especially his Discipline and Punish. However, Foucault's approach toward rationality was, for the most part, quite one-dimensional as he often (though with some exceptions) condemned rationality tout court. See Jay, Martin, Marxism and Totality: The Adventures of a Concept from Lukács to Habermas (Berkeley, CA, 1984), 526.Google Scholar See also Ransom, John S., Foucault's Discipline: The Politics of Subjectivity (Durham, NC, 1997).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

13 Earlier in his career, Dr. Mojtahedi seems to have been more interested in political and international issues. In a speech to a gathering at Alborz High School in 1950 to which some educators from neighboring countries were invited, he commented: “We are friendly and amiable with all peace-loving nations, and seek their cooperation in the establishing and preserving world peace. Especially among us, the neighboring countries that because of natural factors and historical reasons have very close ties, there are better conditions for cooperation. For example, the common history, language and religion, between Iran and Afghanistan, serve best for creation of close ties, understanding, and cooperation between the two countries in discharging our functions in international affairs. I hope that these types of cultural gatherings would ever increase, so that we could become more familiar with one another and through exchange of useful and beneficial ideas we could serve the cause of world peace more effectively.” Makoui, Mir Assadullh Moussavi, Dabirestan-e Alborz va Shabenehroozi Aan [Alborz High School and its Boarding School Section] (Tehran, 1378/1999), 178Google Scholar (all translations from Persian are by the author). It seems that Dr. Mojtahedi's lack of interest in social and political issues after this period is closely related to the increasing closeness of political space in Iran after the coups d'état of 1953 and the increasing despotism of the Shah. Positivism and political repression seem to have an elective affinity that serves the interests of self-preservation of authoritarian rule. As Henry Giroux observes, “the suppression of ethics in positivist rationality precludes the possibility for self-criticism, or, more specifically, for questioning its own normative structure. Facts become separated from values, objectivity undermines critique, and the notion that essence and appearance may not coincide is lost in the positivist view of the world … For Frankfurt School, the outcome of positivist rationality and its technocratic view of science represented a threat to the notion of subjectivity and critical thinking.” Giroux, Henry A., “Critical Theory and Educational Practice,” The Critical Pedagogy Reader, ed. by Darder, Antonia, Baltodano, Marta and Torres, Rodolfo D. (New York, 2003), 33 (emphasis original).Google Scholar

15 Mojtahedi and Ladjevardi, Khaterat-e Mohammad Ali Mojtahedi, 12. Dr. Mojtahedi's fascination and obsession with the natural sciences is also reflected in the films he purchased and showed at Alborz High School: “I purchased about one hundred scientific films; for example, [films showing how] ants and bees build their dwellings. I imported a film [that showed] how the tree leaves produce carbohydrates by using carbon dioxide from the air and water from the ground as a catalyst. Nobody had taught me about this in my secondary school and I learned by seeing this film… I ordered one hundred films of this type” (Mojtahedi and Ladjevardi, Khaterat-e Mohammad Ali Mojtahedi, 42).

16 Mahmoud Behzad, who had served as the deputy-principal under Dr. Mojtahedi, relates that, “Dr. Mojtahedi wished the school to work orderly like a clock and nothing would disrupt or cause disorder in its functioning; and he indeed endeavored much to achieve this. Every morning, a few minutes before the classes started, he would stand in front of the pool and across the entrance gate; when the students and even teachers saw him, they would make haste to enter the gate. Dr. Mojtahedi did not have a favorable view of the literature teachers, one reason being that he did not have much knowledge of Persian language and literature; another reason was that he [Mojtahedi] viewed most of literature teachers as undisciplined men” (Makoui, Dabirestan-e Alborz, 254).

17 Mojtahedi and Ladjevardi, Khaterat-e Mohammad Ali Mojtahedi, 195.

18 Adamiyat, Sadehnameh, 142 (emphasis added).

19 Mojtahedi and Ladjevardi, Khaterat-e Mohammad Ali Mojtahedi, 154 (emphasis added).

20 Mojtahedi and Ladjevardi, Khaterat-e Mohammad Ali Mojtahedi, 193.

21 Adamiyat, Sadehnameh, 264.

22 Adamiyat, Sadehnameh, 265.

23 Adamiyat, Sadehnameh.

24 Adamiyat, Sadehnameh, 268.

25 Adamiyat, Sadehnameh, 269. Despite his strong metaphorical language and heavy religious and mystical overtones, Adamiyat's comments are directly critical of the hegemonic dimensions of techno-scientific rationality that marked Iranian educational outlook in general and that of Alborz in particular.

26 On formal democracy in the parent teacher association at Alborz, see Mojtahedi and Ladjevardi, Khaterat-e Mohammad Ali Mojtahedi, 65.