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Noted Iranian Philosopher Jahanbegloo to Speak Jan. 26
Iranian political exile, philosopher and author Dr. Rahmin Jahanbegloo will present a talk titled “Iranian Intellectuals and the Specter of Democracy” on Monday, Jan. 26 at 7 p.m.
The lecture is free and open to the public and will take place in Fowler 302 on the Occidental College campus.
Jahanbegloo, who was held as a political prisoner in Iran’s notorious Evin prison for four months in 2006, writes on Iranian, Western, and Indian philosophy and modernity. Through more than 20 books, Jahanbegloo has explored cross-cultural political philosophy and nonviolent conflict resolution. In the past year he has published two books: India Revisited: Conversations on Continuity and Change and The Clash of Intolerance.
A 2007 New York Times article noted Jahanbegloo’s concern that Iran and other Middle Eastern countries “have not been able to accommodate a dialogue of cultures.” Instead, he says, “they have suffered either a modernization from above, as in the case of Iran under the Shah, or a virulent assertion of fundamentalism from below, as with the Taliban of Afghanistan.”
Jahanbegloo is a research fellow, professor of political science and the Massey College Scholar-at-Risk at the University of Toronto. He was born in Tehran and educated at the Sorbonne. Long captivated by India and its metaphysical roots, Jahanbegloo spent two years on the faculty of the Center for the Study of Developing Societies in North Delhi.
Jahanbegloo’s lecture is sponsored by the diplomacy and world affairs and philosophy departments. A map and directions to campus can be found at http://www.oxy.edu/MapsDirections.xml.