Formulation of the claim
Prophetic discourse was not replaced by an alternative discourse that grants living, guiding meaning.
Explanation
The text affirms that prophetic discourse was not compensated for by an alternative capable of producing living, guiding meaning. For this reason, the modern human being continues to feel a loss of orientation and meaning—not because the question has ceased, but because the alternative answer has not yet sufficiently taken shape.
Its place in the book’s argument
This atom shows that Arkoun’s historical criticism does not automatically lead to a void of meaning; rather, it opens up the question of an alternative and shows that the need for meaning remains as long as a new discourse has not emerged to perform this function. Here, this meaning is understood as a direct effect of the absence of an alternative that fills the space once occupied by prophetic discourse, not as an abstract theoretical judgment.
What the atom does not say
It does not say that meaning is absolutely absent, nor does it reduce the modern experience to nothingness; rather, it highlights a gap between the old question and the alternative capable of absorbing it.