The Reception of Heidegger in Iran and Its Impact on Modern Iranian Intellectual History

This presentation outlines the history and the impact of Heidegger reception in Iran. A significant role in the transmission of elements of Heidegger's thought can be attributed to the French philosopher and Orientalist Henry Corbin (1903-1978) who used Heidegger's hermeneutics to analyze what he, Corbin, termed 'the Iranian-Islamic tradition'. Corbin considered Šihāb al-Dīn Suhrawardī (12th century) and Mullā Ṣadra (17th century) as thinkers constitutive of this tradition. This gave Heidegger reception in Iran a religious leaning from the outset. The first Iranian intellectual who, through Corbin, became fascinated by Heidegger's thought was the philosophy teacher Aḥmad Fardīd (1912-1994). He did a great deal to fuse Heidegger's thought with his own interpretation of Shiite religion