Altruism and Politics: A Comparative Study of John Rawls and Shahid Mutahhari

Altruism was forgotten in the West by the emergence of renaissance humanistic values and by the influence of the West, it was spread to the East as well (History) and to the same extent, comparing it to other cultures has not been seriously considered (Background). Individual rights in political thought is meaningful when we have an idea of others. The interaction between individual rights and the needs of others is investigated under the title of altruism or words with the same meaning by thinkers and they have presented arguments in accepting or rejecting it (Problem). Therefore, in the present article, the main question refers to the viewpoints of two thinkers, i.e. John Rawls and Morteza Mutahhari, regarding the role of altruism in politics (Question). It seems that there is severe disagreement between these two thinkers regarding the role of altruism in politics (Hypothesis). Thus, the main purpose of the present article is understanding and analyzing the concept of altruism and expressing its relationship with politics from the viewpoint of Rawls and Mutahhari (Objective). The present research will be a comparative study which is based on library data and the results will be drawn through using content analysis (Methodology). Rawls considers altruism a barrier to political justice; whereas, Mutahhari does not consider it as a barrier to political justice, rather he regards it as the cause of strengthening human values.