The Critique of Nativism in Ale Ahmad Thought

Criticism and assessment of thought streams of contemporary Iran is affected by how they face with the problem of modernity and tradition. In the confluence of Iranians and modern world, intellectual elites through making a judgment about these two options, at the same time, determined the direction of their theoretical path. In the present article, with referring to the intellectual needs in understanding the three approaches: modern-oriented, domestic (or native)-oriented and selective (or eclectic!!)-oriented, the focus will be on the thought of Jalal Ale Ahmad. Ale Ahmad according to his literary, political and intellectual works is a domestic-oriented thinker. This writing intends to discuss this hypothesis that for what reasons the domestic-oriented outlook contains paradoxical and poor ideas. It will be argued that Ale Ahmad both in proposing the meanings of the "West" and "Modernity", and more important, the "Eastern" or "Domestic", represents paradoxes and contradictions. In order to confirm the hypothesis in this text, descriptive-analytical method with reference to this author's works will be utilized.