Depoliticization and Self-interest
Here are the words of a man I met through LinkedIn. He is an author, translator, researcher and much more to say. He is Mr. Mohammad Abedi. All we tried to discuss was his expressions and opinions on Philosophy, Political Science, Mythology, and his short novel Lictor.
Writer, Western philosophy teacher, translator, and researcher; which description would suit you the best and why?
Writing can describe me more than anything else. Writing is the only thing when I do, I feel that I embrace freedom.
The certifications you have received and the universities from where you have pursued them is a long list, according to your profile in LinkedIn. How did you choose these subjects and what was the outcome after each one’s completion?
I am always looking for classes where I can attend and get to know new concepts more deeply. Due to my interest in many concepts, I research and participate in classes. It is an honor for me to attend a class where great thinkers teach.
What was your motive while doing programs in different areas like “Effective Altruism” and “Feminism and Social Justice”?
In my opinion, these two fields and the other fields are not very different. All the fields in which I entered the classes are in the humanities. Someone who works in the field of philosophy and literature, in my opinion, should be comprehensive and familiar with all fields of the humanities. An author should be familiar with philosophy, history, mythology, political science, sociology, psychology, and many other sciences.
At what age did you recognize your interest in fields like Philosophy and Sociology and how?
I went to humanities in high school, and it was at that time that my interest in philosophy began. I have been interested in writing and storytelling since I was a child, exactly when I learned how to write, but my interest in philosophy began when I entered high school and took philosophy lessons.
Is philosophy necessary in today’s world?
Certainly. Philosophy is exactly where one begins to ask. In the sea of philosophy, humans put all their thoughts into the sea and liberate themselves. In the world of philosophy, humans transform themselves from a carrying camel into a toddler and build the structure of all his thoughts from the beginning. One of the reasons that human societies, such as the golden age of philosophy, do not adhere to ethics, is the lack of philosophy in human life.
Why do human societies pay less attention to philosophy?
This is a very long discussion. But if we want to address one of the reasons, it is the depoliticization of human societies. A person who is depoliticized does not act voluntarily in society and does not think about his actions. As human societies move toward politicization, personal gains become more prominent. In my view, as long as humans live in society, there will be no personal gain. In a society where people think only for their own benefit, there will be no philosophy in the academic sense. The philosophical ideas I am interested in are against self-interest. And I do not consider the schools and ideas that consider the personal interest of the individual more important than the social duty of the individual to be fundamental and brilliant. After centuries of living, humans must understand that it is by understanding otherness that he can understand the true meaning of society and make a better world.
“Lictor was a Roman civil servant who was an attendant and bodyguard to a magistrate who held imperium.”, according to Google and Wikipedia. Tell me how you would describe your short novel “Lictor”?
Lictor is a short novel I wrote in 2017. This book has been published in Persian, English, Italian, French and Chinese so far and will be published in Hindi in less than a few weeks. The Indian publisher of my book is FlyDreams and the Indian translator of the book is Alok Kumar. Lictor is being translated into 20 other languages by translators. Spanish, Turkish and Swedish translations of the book have been completed. When I started writing the book, people in Iran took to the streets to protest the political system. I have always been concerned about whether a human being will revolt against the oppressor or that inhuman issue when he sees the oppression of a person he hates and his thoughts are disgusted in his idea. In this short novel, I put several layers. In the philosophical layer of the work, I paid attention to the allegory of Plato’s cave and expressed it in a different way. I have expressed my opinion on the allegory of Plato’s cave in this novel. In one of its political layers, I have paid attention to the country where I was born and live, Iran. But the issue that I have paid more attention to than anything else has been fascism. Each of Lictor characters is a symbol of an idea, race, or belief. In this novel, I have included signs that can be discovered by understanding semiotics. Using intertextuality semiotics, the audience can understand the connection between some sentences and scenes and events with a series of other texts. For example, the audience can remember the chess scene in the story.
Lictor was the title of a member of a class of servants in ancient Rome who accompanied them as bodyguards to magistrate rulers and other high-ranking Roman officials, carrying fasces. Fasces was a circular box made of a bunch of tree twigs that wrapped around a bunch of axes and was used in ancient Rome as a symbol of the power and glory of the rulers. The tradition of taking Lictor has been around since Roman was a local kingdom, and it is likely that the Romans inherited this tradition from the Etruscan people next door. Lictors opened the way for Roman officials in the streets, and officials with absolute governmental authority could exercise their “right to punish their subjects” through these lictors. When the Lictors raised the fasces head, it indicated that the incumbent was passing without dissatisfaction, but if the fasces head was down, it indicated his dissatisfaction and the possibility of execution. During the reign of Mussolini’s fascist party in Italy, the symbol of the fasces was placed on the Italian flag. The word fascism is also derived from the Roman word fasces.
Some aspects of fascism may have faded, but a new kind of fascism is emerging that we can call cultural fascism.
Given the situation the world is facing now, do you hope for the future of the world?
Unfortunately, there are issues that cannot be avoided. Mankind will survive and there will be human suffering alongside him. To be honest, I do not have much hope for the world. However, not having hope does not make me give up my social responsibilities.
How many languages do you speak? If you are planning to do studies again, what subject will you choose? And what makes you interested in that subject?
Persian is my mother tongue. Apart from Persian, I am fluent in English and French. I will definitely decide to pursue a master’s degree soon. My main interest is literature and philosophy. I will definitely choose between comparative literature and Western philosophy. The field of comparative literature is very interesting to me because I know that I can write very good articles in this field and for this, I need to consult with university professors. This is because the myths of Iran and the ancient stories of Iran are so vast and astonishing that comparing the intertextual signs between these myths and the myths and ancient stories or even the modern world stories will be brilliant research. As for my interest in philosophy, which I explained a little while ago. I love teaching and I love philosophy more for teaching. Teaching political philosophy, history of Western philosophy, and philosophy of ethics at a very good university is a goal for me.
Who is your inspiration and how he or she has motivated you in any way?
Naturally, many people have been motivating me. Many great writers like Victor Hugo, Dostoevsky, Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre have inspired me. A number of great filmmakers such as Andrei Tarkovsky and Ingmar Bergman. Or great poets like Ferdowsi. Or philosophers like Nietzsche, and Kant. But if I want to say who motivates me the most, it is none other than Mahatma Gandhi. He was a great human, and I consider him a great human in every way. His thoughts, his actions, his personal life, all of this motivates me.