Ramin Jahanbegloo (, born 28 December 1956 in

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

) is an Iranian

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and academic based in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Canada.

Biography

Ramin Jahanbegloo was born in Tehran, Iran. He has a doctorate in

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

from

Sorbonne University Sorbonne University () is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to the Middle Ages in 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sorbon as a constituent college of the Unive ...

in Paris, France, where he lived for twenty years. He was a post-doctorate fellow in Middle Eastern Studies at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. He is married to Azin Moalej and has a daughter named Afarin Jahanbegloo.

Academic and intellectual career

Jahanbegloo's intellectual activity focuses on fostering constructive dialogue between divergent cultures. He has written numerous books and articles in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

, English, and French on the subject of

Western philosophy Western philosophy refers to the Philosophy, philosophical thought, traditions and works of the Western world. Historically, the term refers to the philosophical thinking of Western culture, beginning with the ancient Greek philosophy of the Pre ...

and

modernity Modernity, a topic in the humanities and social sciences, is both a historical period (the modern era) and the ensemble of particular Society, socio-Culture, cultural Norm (social), norms, attitudes and practices that arose in the wake of the ...

. In 1991 he published his book ''Conversations with Isaiah Berlin'' in French, which was translated into English and published the following year. The book records a series of interviews with the famous philosopher

Isaiah Berlin Sir Isaiah Berlin (6 June 1909 – 5 November 1997) was a Russian-British social and political theorist, philosopher, and historian of ideas. Although he became increasingly averse to writing for publication, his improvised lectures and talks ...

, which cover intellectual questions ranging from the moral philosophy of Tolstoy to the meaning of liberalism. Between 1997 and 2001, he was an adjunct professor of Political Science at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

in Canada. In 2001, he served at the

National Endowment for Democracy The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is a quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization in the United States founded in 1983 with the stated aim of advancing democracy worldwide and counter communism, communist influence abroad, by prom ...

as a fellow at the federally funded program known as the Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program Upon returning to Tehran, he was appointed head of the Contemporary Philosophy Department of the Cultural Research Center. In his efforts to promote dialogue, he has interviewed

scholars A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a terminal ...

and

intellectuals An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the wor ...

from all over the world, among them

George Steiner Francis George Steiner, Fellow of the British Academy#Fellowship, FBA (April 23, 1929 – February 3, 2020) was a Franco-American literary critic, essayist, philosopher, novelist and educator. He wrote extensively about the relationship between ...

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a ...

Ashis Nandy Ashis Nandy (born 13 May 1937) is an Indian political psychologist, social theorist, futurist and critic. A trained clinical psychologist, Nandy has provided theoretical critiques of European colonialism, development, modernity, secularism, ...

and the

Dalai Lama The Dalai Lama (, ; ) is the head of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The term is part of the full title "Holiness Knowing Everything Vajradhara Dalai Lama" (圣识一切瓦齐尔达喇达赖喇嘛) given by Altan Khan, the first Shu ...

. In recent years, he invited

Richard Rorty Richard McKay Rorty (October 4, 1931 – June 8, 2007) was an American philosopher, historian of ideas, and public intellectual. Educated at the University of Chicago and Yale University, Rorty's academic career included appointments as the Stu ...

Timothy Garton Ash Timothy Garton Ash (born 12 July 1955) is a British historian, author and commentator. He is Professor of European Studies at the University of Oxford. Most of his work has been concerned with the contemporary history of Europe, with a special ...

Antonio Negri Antonio Negri (; ; 1 August 1933 – 16 December 2023) was an Italian political philosopher known as one of the most prominent theorists of autonomism, as well as for his co-authorship of ''Empire (Hardt and Negri book), Empire'' with Michae ...

, and

Michael Ignatieff Michael Grant Ignatieff ( ; born May 12, 1947) is a Canadian author, academic and former politician who served as leader of the Liberal Party and leader of the Opposition from 2008 until 2011. Known for his work as a historian, Ignatieff has ...

and other Western intellectuals to Iran.

Political detention

In late April 2006, on his way to an international conference in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, Jahanbegloo was arrested by the Iranian authorities. On May 3, Iran judiciary branch officials confirmed that he was arrested and sent to

Evin Prison Evin Prison () is a prison located in the Evin neighborhood of Tehran, Iran. The prison has been the primary site for detaining Iran's political prisoners since 1972, before and after the Iranian Revolution, in a purpose-built wing nicknamed "E ...

. Some sources say he was accused of

spying Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or Confidentiality, confidential information (Intelligence (information), intelligence). A person who commits espionage on ...

. The following day, a friend told

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

News that Jahanbegloo had been moved to a hospital.

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

expressed concern over Jahanbegloo being detained without charges and called for his immediate release. According to Canadian newspaper reports on May 6, Jahanbegloo's friends suspected he was being tortured. Their fears increased in the wake of reports that Jahanbegloo had been examined twice at the medical clinic of Evin Prison, a detention facility for political prisoners. An Iranian newspaper, ''Jomhuri Eslami'', accused Jahanbegloo of links to the U.S.

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

and the

Mossad The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (), popularly known as Mossad ( , ), is the national intelligence agency of the Israel, State of Israel. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with M ...

. "He is considered as one of the key elements in the American plan for the smooth toppling" of the Islamic regime", the newspaper stated, further charging that the United States was paying him to conduct "cultural activities against Iran." On May 13, the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC), an Iranian human rights group headed by Iran's

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

laureate

Shirin Ebadi Shirin Ebadi (; born 21 June 1947) is an Iranian Nobel laureate, lawyer, writer, teacher and a former judge and founder of the Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran. In 2003, Ebadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her pioneering effor ...

, voiced concern over the arrest and jailing of the prominent intellectual. On May 15, the

Council of the European Union The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and less formally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU) a ...

, following a meeting in

, issued a press release expressing concerns about the detention of Jahanbegloo, including its underlying message that Iranians ought not to communicate or associate with Europeans: ::"The Council is seriously concerned about the detention of the Iranian philosopher Dr. Ramin Jahanbegloo. The Council calls upon Iranian authorities not to penalize Iranian citizens for their contacts with Europeans, including embassies, universities and cultural institutes". On May 19, more than 400 prominent international figures, including Nobel laureates, scholars, and human rights activists, demanded Jahanbegloo's immediate release in an open letter. Among the undersigned are

J. M. Coetzee John Maxwell Coetzee Order of Australia, AC Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, FRSL Order of Mapungubwe, OMG (born 9 February 1940) is a South African and Australian novelist, essayist, linguist, and translator. The recipient of the 2003 ...

Umberto Eco Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian Medieval studies, medievalist, philosopher, Semiotics, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular ...

Jürgen Habermas Jürgen Habermas ( , ; ; born 18 June 1929) is a German philosopher and social theorist in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism. His work addresses communicative rationality and the public sphere. Associated with the Frankfurt S ...

Leszek Kołakowski Leszek Kołakowski (; ; 23 October 1927 – 17 July 2009) was a Polish philosopher and historian of ideas. He is best known for his critical analysis of Marxism, Marxist thought, as in his three-volume history of Marxist philosophy ''Main Current ...

Krzysztof Zanussi Krzysztof Pius Zanussi (born 17 June 1939) is a Polish film and theatre director, producer and screenwriter. He is a professor of European film at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland where he conducts a summer workshop. He ...

, and

Howard Zinn Howard Zinn (August 24, 1922January 27, 2010) was an American historian and a veteran of World War II. He was chair of the history and social sciences department at Spelman College, and a political science professor at Boston University. Zinn ...

. On June 13,

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

reported from Tehran that Jahanbegloo was barred from seeing a lawyer during his interrogations. On July 10, the Council of the European Union issued another press release reiterating its concerns about the detention of Jahanbegloo: ::"The EU is particularly alarmed about the continuing detention of the respected Iranian academic Dr. Ramin Jahanbegloo, who is well known for his commitment to philosophical and moral principles, non-violence and dialogue." On August 30, 2006, Jahanbegloo was released after four months of confinement. His 2014 book ''Time Will Say Nothing: A Philosopher Survives an Iranian Prison'' included a narrative of his imprisonment and interrogation. On June 29, 2009, commenting on post-election chaos, Iranian minister of intelligence said, "there is no practical possibility of a velvet revolution in Iran" though he accused United States and Britain of trying to orchestrate one. He disclosed that people such as Ramin Jahanbaglou and Haleh Esfandiari had been arrested in connection with such foreign assisted plots to instigate the Iranian intelligentia but due to legal complications, no prosecution could take place.

Career after imprisonment

In 2006 and 2007 he was Professor of Democracy at the

Centre for the Study of Developing Societies The Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) is an Indian research institute for social sciences and humanities. It was founded in 1963 by Rajni Kothari and is largely funded by the Indian Council of Social Science Research.

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

, India. In January 2008 he returned to the University of Toronto as a professor of Political Science, Massey College Scholar-at-Risk, and Research Fellow at the Centre for Ethics at

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

. In 2009, he wrote a book, Talking Architecture: Raj Rewal In Conversation With Ramin Jahanbegloo. The book was inaugurated on 19 December 2009 in New Delhi, India. He also taught a series of nine online Persian-language lectures on nonviolence and nonviolent resistance for Tavaana: E-Learning Institute for Iranian Civil Society. He currently works in O.P Jindal Global University, India as a Vice Dean and the head of the Center for Mahatma Gandhi Studies. Inspired by Czechoslovakia's renowned Charter 77, Ramin Jahanbegloo along with a group of Iranian intellectuals (Mehrdad Loghmani, Ali Ehsasi, Mehrdad Ariannejad, Mehrdad Hariri) penned Charter91, منشور ۹۱, a document that aimed to unite the Iranian people around a common human rights and civic agenda.

Awards

In October 2009, Jahanbegloo became the winner of the Peace Prize from the United Nations Association in Spain for his extensive academic works in promoting dialogue between cultures and his advocacy for non-violence.

Works

*''Conversations with Isaiah Berlin'' (Peter Halban, 1992) * Gandhi: Aux Sources de la Nonviolence ( Felin, 1999) * Penser la Nonviolence (UNESCO, 2000) * Iran: Between Tradition and Modernity (Lexington Books, 2004) * India Revisited (Oxford University Press, 2007) * The Clash of Intolerances (Har-Anand 2007) * The Spirit of India (Penguin 2008) * Beyond Violence (Har-Anand 2008), Leggere Gandhi a Teheran (Marsilio 2008) * Talking Politics (Oxford University Press 2010) * Civil Society and Democracy in Iran (Lexington Press, 2011) * Democracy in Iran (Palgrave 2013) * The Gandhian Moment (Harvard University Press 2013) * Introduction to Nonviolence (Palgrave 2013) * Time Will Say Nothing (University of Regina Press 2014) *Talking Philosophy (Oxford University Press 2015) * The Decline of Civilization (Aleph Books 2017) * On Forgiveness and Revenge (University of Regina Press 2017)
Harmony and Exchange Toward a Legoic Society
ref> (Peter Lang 2017) * The Disobedient Indian: Gandhi's Philosophy of Resistance ( Speaking Tiger 2018) * The Global Gandhi (Routledge 2018) * The Revolution of Values: The Moral and Political Philosophy of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Lexington Press 2018) * Albert Camus: The Unheroic Hero of Our Time (Routledge 2020) * The Courage to Exist: A Philosophy of Life and Death in the Age of Coronavirus (Orient Black Swan 2020) * Pedagogy of Dissent (Orient Black Swan 2020) * In Pursuit of Unhappiness (Orient Black Swan 2020) * Conversations with Ko Un (Orient Black Swan 2021) * Nonviolent Resistance as a Philosophy of Life (Bloomsbury 2021) * Gandhi and Nonviolent Peace (Routledge 2021) * Nonviolent Resistance as a Philosophy of Life (Bloomsbury, 2021) * Comparative Approaches to Compassion, Introduction to Nonviolence (Bloomsbury, 2022)

References

External links

Ramin Jahanbegloo Official WebsiteDr. Jahanbegloo's profile on openDemocracy.net
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Jahanbegloo, Ramin Canadian political philosophers Harvard Fellows 20th-century Iranian philosophers Iranian emigrants to France Iranian emigrants to Canada Iranian democracy activists Writers from Tehran 1956 births Living people University of Paris alumni Academic staff of the University of Toronto 21st-century Iranian philosophers 21st-century Canadian philosophers Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Iranian prisoners and detainees Hegel scholars Iranian expatriate academics Iranian essayists Iranian political philosophers Inmates of Evin Prison Foreign nationals imprisoned in Iran Political prisoners in Iran