Ma`rifat Farhangi Ejtemaei

The question of the relationship between “the social” and “the political” has long constituted one of the fundamental issues in social theory. This article seeks to reconsider the relation between these two domains within the process of development by drawing on the nature–artifice dichotomy articulated in the philosophical thought of Khājah Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī. Adopting an ontological approach and employing an analytical–documentary method, the present study undertakes a comparative examination of philosophical and sociological perspectives on this relationship, while analyzing the manner in which politics is formed out of the very texture of the social. From this standpoint, the social is conceived as a mode of spontaneous and natural being, whereas politics, as an artifice, is grounded in deliberation, construction, and the imposition of order. Within this framework, in addition to an analysis of Iran’s historical experiences, the existing challenges confronting the country’s social and political development are also addressed. The findings of the study indicate that the realization of sustainable change requires that policymaking and institutional reforms be made possible only through a fundamental reconfiguration of social relations and the public culture of society, particularly insofar as this process is aligned with the society’s internal capacities and its socio-cultural traditions. Furthermore, an emphasis on social consciousness, the underlying philosophy embedded within it, and the strengthening of the social through the dialectic between the people and popular elites, as the ground and precondition for the realization of reformist policies, serves to secure the durability of social and political transformations. In conclusion, this study underscores the necessity of revisiting theories of development, with particular emphasis on the significance of the social and indigenous culture in the processes of policymaking and development.