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This article represents Talebof 's thought on the modern idea of liberty defined in terms of selfishness, selflessness, and selfhood. First, a brief background is set forth in an attempt to show some of the influences on Talebof by others of the Iranian intelligentsia and European philosophers. Having set the stage, his philosophy is represented systematically, as against chronologically. This approach helps to reveal a shortcoming in Talebof 's philosophy regarding the modern idea of liberty. The shortcoming is evident: Talebof defined liberty in terms of selfishness and selflessness, but then did not dig deep enough to methodically examine selfhood as a more fundamental basis for liberty. The article argues that this shortcoming was caused by a number of factors, including philosophical poverty coupled with natural tendency for reification, and anxiously pragmatic ethos caused by lawlessness under the Qajars and exposure to the hegemonic West. In short, this paper defines the modern idea of liberty, describes Talebof 's understanding of it, and explains the obstacles that prevented Talebof from setting out a more comprehensive examination of the modern idea of liberty.

AbstractThis article recontextualizes the massacre that took place in the Kurdistan region of Iran in 1979. Through examining interviews with and articles by some of the leading actors involved in the massacre and analysing various alignments between Tehran and Kurdistan, the article concludes that the massacre was not an ethnic conflict. Rather, it was a political issue exacerbated by matters such as the turbulent transition from the Pahlavi dynasty to the Islamic Republic and idiosyncrasies of the involved actors. Framing the massacre in a primordially black and white fashion – Sunni Kurds versus Shiite Persians – is not only historically inaccurate but also empirically problematic.