Henry Corbin, Philosophical Hermeneutics, and the Cosmic Political Thought: A Critical Appraisal

Henry Corbin was the first thinker who attempted to apply philosophical hermeneutics as an analytical tool for understanding the Shiite texts in particular, and Iranian intellectual history in general. Making use of various intellectual traditions, including phenomenology, hermeneutics, Christian theology, and Platonic tradition, he provided a methodological and hermeneutical approach to the Iranian intellectual heritage. Although there are a literature body regarding his significance in the Islamic and Shiite scholarship, a critical evaluation of his works, and especially his own hermeneutical approach, has not been done yet. This paper aims to discuss Corbin’s hermeneutical approach from a critical and philosophical-political perspective. Thus, it will be demonstrated that his hermeneutics suffers from three main deficits: the lack of critical dimension, over-interpretation, and finally de-politicization of Islamic and Iranian intellectual and religious tradition. All of these three issues are rooted in a “cosmic” ontology in his philosophical system that makes no room for an intersubjective and social realm.