A Comparative Study of Interest in the Individualist and Collectivist Western Schools and Imami Jurisprudence

The western schools have tried to explain "interest" based on human reason. Individualists who have put emphasis on individual interest have not adopted a fixed and stable approach to interest and the way that it should be provided. They are regularly in fluctuation between merely focusing on individual interest and paying relative attention to collective interest. There is disagreement among collectivists who attach importance to the public interest to justify the ways that it should be realized. In such approaches, interest is generally taken as material interest; and, since such approaches are consequentialist and without a priori norms and do not take into consideration the permanently changeable conditions, they are not stable as much as it is necessary, and have no fixed definition for interest and the way that it should be provided. Imami jurisprudence, however, enjoys stable standards to define and recognize interest and the ways that it is realized in the society. And though both public and individual interests are of importance, if there is some conflict, the public interest will be preferred.