The Particular Versus the Universal in Contemporary Arabic Philosophy: Abderrahmane Taha and Nassif Nassar

Djelloul Magoura

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Chapter 11 The Particular Versus the Universal in Contemporary Arabic Philosophy: Abderrahmane Taha and Nassif Nassar

In: Contemporary Moroccan Thought

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Djelloul Magoura

Djelloul Magoura
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 329–348

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004519534_012

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Abstract

The question regarding how to communicate universality is central among Arab philosophers: should the construction of a true philosophical communication of the Arab and Islamic tradition – with its tradition and with the West – succumb to nationalist considerations whereby Islam orients the dialogue and controls the values? Or does it have to be founded upon rationalist and universalist premises? To investigate this question, two philosophical projects are studied here, one from the Maghrib, represented by the Moroccan philosopher Abderrahmane Taha (b. 1944), and the other from the Mashriq, represented by the Lebanese philosopher Nassif Nassar (b. 1940). The first theorizes particular/traditional (khāṣṣa/aṣīla) communication to reach universalism (al-kawniyya), while the second theorizes universal/liberal (ʿālamiyya/lībirāliyya) communication before going back to particularism (khuṣūṣiyya). In the first part of the chapter, Taha’s view are synthesised; he argues that every nation has the right to make its own modernity based on its language, tradition, and ethical sources. He fuses nationalism (al-qawmiyya) and universalism (al-kawniyya). In the second part, Nassar’s criticism of this view is outlined. Nassar argues for philosophical communication based on rationality, philosophy, and universalism; he rejects intellectual fanaticism, and calls for openness and the realization of the most basic of human values – liberty, justice, and human rights. As to the third part, it compares additional views of the two philosophers over issues like rationalism, secularism, and freedom, as a form of further illustrating their differences. This chapter argues that Nassar starts as a universalist and ends up being a nationalist, while Taha starts as a nationalist and ends up being a universalist. Overall, each of them represents a different line of thinking within contemporary Arab philosophical thought.

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Contemporary Moroccan Thought

On Philosophy, Theology, Society, and Culture

Series: Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 1 The Near and Middle East, Volume: 186

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004519534

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 24 Oct 2024

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Part 1 Projects in Philosophy and Philosophical Thought

Part 2 Projects in Theology, Theological Politics, and Sufism

Part 3 Projects in the Social Sciences and Cultural Studies

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Chapter 11 The Particular Versus the Universal in Contemporary Arabic Philosophy: Abderrahmane Taha and Nassif Nassar

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Contemporary Moroccan Thought

On Philosophy, Theology, Society, and Culture

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