Nikoo Sarkhush’s view on Concept of Ideology
Nikoo Sarkhush’s view, a Ph.D scholar in Political Science, on my presentation about ‘concept of ideology’ published on http://www.ahmadrezataheri.blogfa.com/post-38.aspx
Nikoo Sarkhush: In your presentation, you surprisingly contends that “Marxism as well as Islam are “ideology”. But everyone acknowledges Marx as a philosopher and Marxism as a philosophy --- Marxist philosophy.
AhmadReza Taheri: On this issue I do agree with you. Because I believe that any ideology is based on its own philosophy. But, it also depends upon our matter of debate. Here, our matter of debate is ideology and not philosophy. Your comment is like this example: Mr. A is a Muslim, so since he is a Muslim, then we cannot call him a human being…!
Therefore, I will modify it by saying that Mr. A is a Muslim, as well as, a human being. We can look and give our views about him as a Muslim, if our matter of debate is about ‘Mr. A as a Muslim.’ And, also we can look and give our views about him as a human being, if our matter of debate is about ‘Mr. A as a human being.
Thus, this does not mean, since both Islam and Marxism are regarded as philosophy, then one cannot consider them ‘ideology.’ Why?
With reference to ‘ideology’ if you look at the concept and definition of it, you can find the following main characteristic about any ideology i.e. “An ideology is a mobilizational force that pushes people into social, as well as, political units. “ This particular characteristic is universally acceptable and that it is a major characteristic which distinguishes between Ideology and Philosophy. Philosophy does not have this capability. In this particular respect, Islam has this capability of mobilizing the Muslims, so does Marxism.
Nikoo Sarkhush: Of course, Marxism can be read as an ideology --- in negative sense of it --- if it is used and manipulated narrow-mindedly as you see in Stalinism or Leninism. The same is true to Islam. Islam as the fundamentalist Islam is definitely an austere and one-sided ideology. But at the same time there is a significant discipline as Islamic philosophy which greatly influenced over the other branches of philosophy, and this type of Islam does not give you any way or any answer, rather it problematizes some self evident assumptions, even God. In this respect, there are great Islamic Philosophers as Ebn-e Roshd, Farabi , Ebn-e Sina … who are mostly referred by Western thinkers as well.
AhmadReza Taheri: Your own above sentence clearly shows that Marxism as an ideology is a negative ideology. It means that after all you also hold that Marxism is an ideology, but a negative one.
I would like to say that in fact any ideology is there to guide masses and show them the right path, as it is claimed. Thus, Marxism as an ideology is not negative, but as a social and political system has failed to produce its fruits, so this may have led you to label Marxism as a negative ideology. Whereas, you better change your comment by saying that it is a negative political system. Same is true of Islam.
Nikoo Sarkhush: It is not easy to conclude that Islam or Marxism are “ideology” per se. We can say that some interpretation or interpretations of Islam or Marxism make them into an ideology --- in negative or positive senses --- rather than philosophy. On the other hand, with considering your assumption that “we need ideology because we live with it and we die with it”, we can conclude that as far as every philosopher lives with ideology … has inevitably some ideological glasses to look the world. And accordingly the philosophy he produces can not have “its own glasses of looking” and therefore is not free from ideology.
AhmadReza Taheri: Again here I see a contradiction in your comment. Well, as I mentioned earlier, both can be called ‘ideology.’ The answer is simple. See, any ideology claims that it gives us final solution. In Islam we read that Quran is the final holy book which can answer all questions. Marxism, as claimed by Marxists, finally would lead us to communism --- ultimate destination.
Any ideology would look at the world through its own filter. Islam would view the world different from Marxism.
Any ideology gives spirit, light, and meaning to the life. Can one take Islam a way from Muslims? That is an impossible phenomenon. They live with it and they die with it happily.
Nikoo Sarkhush: At the end, I like to ask you that if someone claims that he/she was born in a totalitarian regime lives with it and may die with it whether it is true that he “needs” it…! It is the same question that I like to ask you about “ideology” or any so called self-evident phenomenon.
AhmadReza Taheri: In this regard, I would like to say that in totalitarian regimes there are people with different ideologies who live with them. Of course, here I may not use the term ideology as to mean ‘full grown ideology’, rather better to label them as sub-ideology or a process of thinking that might at the end lead to the establishment of an ideology. Furthermore, if I am not mistaken, all totalitarian regimes do not use ideology in its true sense of the term, as a means of suppressing their subjects. When I say people live with ideology and die with it, I do not mean this can be true of any ideology. Rather, it can be applied to some of them like Nationalism, and any other religion in the world --- Islam, Christianity, etc.
