Seyed Hamidreza Hasani; Hadi Moosavi
Abstract
The issue of structure and agency has been very important and much debated in social science. It also plays a key role in methodology, theory of power, order and social responsibility discussions. From the other side, among Islamic thinkers, Allama Tabatabai's theory of Etebariat has shown to be ...
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The issue of structure and agency has been very important and much debated in social science. It also plays a key role in methodology, theory of power, order and social responsibility discussions. From the other side, among Islamic thinkers, Allama Tabatabai's theory of Etebariat has shown to be an influential contribution regarding the discussion of structure and agency. Allama Tabatabai in his Principles of realism philosophy and Etebariat, introduces the theory of Etebariat which can propound a definition of agency in society, definition of structure and structural characteristics in society. Adding Allama Tabatabai's theory of Etebariat to the discussion of social structure, and putting it beside Gidden’s structuration theory can consolidate and advance it further. Giddens in his revised theory, abandoned the duality of structure and agency, and suggested a reciprocal relationship between structure and agency. In this way, he indicates the role of agent in the creation of structure and the role of structure in the action of agent. This paper, by analyzing Allama's theory of Etebariat as common structural forms in human actions, shows that the discussion of agency and structure in Allama and Giddens has many resemblances in description of structure as common qualities of social agents and also regarding the role of will and agency in this filed.
