Analysis of the Experience of the Priority of Philosophy over Democracy in the Seventh and Eighth Administrations of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Based on sociological and philosophical interpretations, there are two perspectives on democracy. Sociologically, democratic institutions take precedence over democratic thought and culture in practice. At the same time, the philosophical approach prioritizes the culture and theoretical foundations of democracy. Hence, some speak of the primacy of democracy over philosophy, and others of the primacy of philosophy over democracy. The main question now is according to which of the above democratic channels are the seventh and eighth administrations analyzed after the Islamic Republic of Iran? The authors of this article have tried to show that these administrations are evaluated using the conceptual possibilities of the philosophy priority approach to democracy. Accordingly, the main hypothesis states that solving the problems facing the seventh and eighth administrations in the context of democracy requires a philosophical approach. In this regard, this article tries to provide a suitable platform for understanding the process of democracy and proving the main hypothesis by presenting theoretical components such as human attitude to development, education of political knowledge, political culture, political development and political wisdom.  The theoretical framework of this article is the priority of philosophy over democracy, which carries its philosophical theme well, especially by emphasizing awareness and knowledge before democratic action in the thoughts of Seyed Javad Tabatabai, Reza Davari Ardakani and Mostafa Malekian. The precedence of view over action shows that all three thinkers consider political, economic and social opportunities in society as a reflection of previously-trained actions of individuals, and in this regard, their thoughts can be a model. They are good for analyzing the actions of the seventh and eighth administrations. Paying attention to the conceptual possibilities of the theoretical model in the article shows that understanding and analyzing the state of democracy in the seventh and eighth administrations is theoretically very important. Therefore, the method of this research is descriptive and analytical and is evaluated with reference to the library method.