بررسیِ راهبردهایِ استاد مطهری در انسان‌شناسی‌ (تحلیل ماتریس سُوات)

Extended Abstract
 
Introduction and Objectives: In the contemporary world, where the crisis of meaning, the collapse of moral foundations, and the dominance of reductionist anthropological paradigms have reshaped the understanding of the human being, a renewed inquiry into the nature of humanity has become indispensable. The anthropological framework developed by Mutahhari, grounded in philosophical rigor, Qur’anic anthropology, and a civilizational outlook, represents one of the most comprehensive capacities within Islamic thought for addressing these challenges. Mutahhari, through a problem-oriented and future sensitive approach, conceives the human being as a dynamic, multilayered, and ascending reality endowed with an innate divine disposition (fitrah)—a being whose identity unfolds in relation to reason, faith, wilāyah, and history, and who possesses the potential to transcend the confines of biological existence toward higher existential horizons.
Despite these strengths, Mutahhari’s anthropological system, when confronted with rival schools of thought and the complex conditions of modernity, requires a strategic analysis capable of revealing its internal strengths and weaknesses alongside the external opportunities and threats that shape its contemporary relevance. In this regard, the SWOT matrix provides a conceptual and analytical tool through which Mutahhari’s anthropology can be examined not merely as a philosophical doctrine but as a civilizational and educational project.
The aim of this study is to employ the SWOT framework, complemented by the SPACE model, to determine the strategic position of Mutahhari’s anthropology across five analytical domains: epistemology, methodology, psychology, civilizational studies, and practical strategy. Through this analysis, the study seeks to demonstrate how Mutahhari’s anthropological system can withstand modern intellectual and civilizational threats, capitalize on emerging opportunities, and contribute to shaping the trajectory of contemporary human sciences.
Method: This study employs a document based and analytical methodology grounded in the systematic examination of Murtadha Mutahhari’s written works. The primary data consist of his anthropological, philosophical, historical, and civilizational texts, which were analyzed through a thematic analysis approach. In the first stage, basic themes were extracted from the corpus of Mutahhari’s writings; these themes were then organized into intermediate thematic clusters and ultimately synthesized into overarching themes that reconstruct the structural foundations of his anthropological system. The analysis was conducted across five domains: epistemology, methodology, psychology, civilizational studies, and practical strategy.
To evaluate this reconstructed system within a strategic framework, the SWOT model was employed. By distinguishing internal factors (strengths and weaknesses) from external factors (opportunities and threats), the SWOT matrix enables a contextual assessment of Mutahhari’s anthropology in relation to contemporary intellectual and civilizational conditions. Each of the five analytical domains was mapped onto the four components of the SWOT matrix, and from this mapping, the four strategic orientations—aggressive (SO), competitive (ST), conservative (WO), and defensive (WT)—were derived.
In a complementary step, the SPACE model was applied to determine the overarching strategic posture of Mutahhari’s anthropological framework. By evaluating four dimensions—philosophical strength, competitive advantage, scope and civilizational capacity, and environmental pressure—the SPACE model situates the theory within a two dimensional strategic field. The integration of SWOT and SPACE provides a comprehensive analytical lens through which Mutahhari’s anthropology can be interpreted not only as a conceptual system but also as a strategic and civilizational project capable of guiding the future trajectory of human sciences.
Results: The findings of this study indicate that Mutahhari’s anthropological framework possesses a set of strategic capacities that elevate it beyond a purely philosophical doctrine and position it as a civilizational model capable of engaging the intellectual and cultural challenges of the modern world. The SWOT analysis demonstrates that, within the epistemological domain, philosophical foundationalism, the centrality of reason and fitrah, and resistance to relativism constitute the core internal strengths of the system. These strengths enable Mutahhari’s anthropology to confront external threats such as instrumental rationality, materialistic reductionism, and the marginalization of the spiritual dimension of the human being.
In the methodological domain, Mutahhari’s pluralistic use of philosophy, mysticism, Qur’anic exegesis, and historical analysis provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the human being. Nevertheless, limited engagement with empirical human sciences emerges as a significant weakness. In the psychological domain, the emphasis on the perfect human, volition, faith, and existential ascent offers a constructive response to modern crises of identity, alienation, and spiritual dislocation.
At the civilizational level, Mutahhari’s future oriented and macro analytical perspective equips his theory to resist the dominance of Western anthropological models and the erosion of human dignity in contemporary culture. In the domain of practical strategy, his problem oriented approach, intellectual courage in confronting rival schools, and reliance on the cultural resources of Islamic civilization constitute major strengths, although the absence of operational models in education, psychology, and applied humanities remains a notable limitation.
Overall, the results show that despite certain practical and interdisciplinary gaps, Mutahhari’s anthropology possesses sufficient philosophical coherence, civilizational depth, and critical capacity to withstand external threats, utilize emerging opportunities, and contribute meaningfully to the future development of human sciences.
Discussion and Conclusion: The strategic analysis of Mutahhari’s anthropological framework reveals that his system, while firmly grounded in philosophical and revelatory foundations, possesses civilizational and educational capacities that elevate it beyond an abstract theoretical construct. The examination of the five analytical domains—epistemology, methodology, psychology, civilizational studies, and practical strategy—demonstrates that Mutahhari, through his commitment to comprehensiveness, the centrality of fitrah, a theocentric rationality, and the doctrine of the perfect human, adopts an active, critical, and reconstructive stance toward the intellectual and cultural challenges of modernity.
At the same time, the SWOT analysis highlights that this system requires further development in certain areas, particularly in its practical and interdisciplinary dimensions. Limited engagement with empirical human sciences, insufficient attention to the lived and embodied human experience, and the absence of operational models in education and psychology constitute weaknesses that can be addressed through emerging opportunities—such as the global turn toward spirituality, the growing demand for dignity centered educational models, and the increasing openness of academic spaces to comparative and cross cultural philosophies.
The SPACE model further indicates that the overarching strategic posture of Mutahhari’s anthropology lies within the aggressive quadrant, suggesting that its internal philosophical and civilizational strengths are sufficiently robust to activate external opportunities and neutralize environmental threats. Nevertheless, at the level of confronting threats, the competitive (ST) strategy remains relevant, while in practical domains, the conservative (WO) strategy retains its significance.
Overall, Mutahhari’s anthropology emerges as a framework capable of resisting the crises of modern humanity, harnessing civilizational and intellectual opportunities, and contributing to the transformation of human sciences. This study suggests that a strategic rereading of Mutahhari’s thought can open new horizons for developing educational, civilizational, and theocentric models suited to the contemporary world.
Conflict of Interest Statement: The authors of the article declare that they have received no financial support, research funding, or assistance from any third party, including governmental, commercial, or private foundations, for any part of this work. The authors have no ongoing, pending, or registered patents related to this study. This research does not involve experimental animals or human subjects requiring ethical approval.