Since the beginning of their appearance as a social class, Iranian intellectuals have been concerned with defining, internalizing, and, for some, indigenizing notions of modernity. Over time, the role and social composition of Iranian intellectuals have changed, as have their conceptions of and attitudes toward modernity. Thus it is important to first examine how the current generation of Iranian intellectuals looks at its predecessors and defines itself in relation – or in opposition – to each of the previous generations, all the while continuing the intellectual preoccupation with modernity. This lays the groundwork for a more detailed analysis in the following chapters of the dominant discourse to which these intellectuals have given rise. For now, it is important to explore the question of how contemporary Iranian intellectuals see and define themselves.

A brief note of clarification on the thrust of the chapter's focus may be useful. My concern in this chapter is to explore the question of how Iranian intellectuals and thinkers see themselves, and how they frame their contributions accordingly. As much as possible, I have deliberately avoided looking at them from the outside and analyzing them through the prism of (Western) social science theory, in relation to, for example, Western notions of and theories about modernity, Enlightenment, civil society, and the like. In other words, my focus here is on the perceptions of “the self” prevalent within Iran's intellectual circles.

As such, I am not setting out to present an analysis of the intellectuals' roles and functions within the Iranian polity and history per se. A number of scholars have already provided very sound sociological and political analyses of Iran's intellectual encounter with modernity.