Formulation of the Claim
Arkoun maintains that the efficacy of Qur’anic discourse is connected to multidimensional psychological, social, and anthropological structures.
Explanation
For Arkoun, Qur’anic discourse is not understood as a one-dimensional discourse, but as a discourse that operates within a network of responses and formations that encompass the psyche, society, and the human being as a historical and cultural being.
This means that the effect of the discourse cannot be reduced to linguistic meaning alone, but rather to its interaction with the conditions of reception and the fields of social and anthropological formation that give it its efficacy.
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
This atom falls within Arkoun’s broader effort to read the Qur’an beyond exegetical or theological reduction, and to show that religious meaning is formed within wider historical, epistemic, and human conditions. It intersects with his related theses that link the religious text to structures of reception and representation, and that call for understanding the multiple levels on which it operates in Islamic culture.
Limits of the Claim
This formulation does not mean reducing Qur’anic discourse to purely external factors, nor does it reduce its value to psychology, sociology, or anthropology. It indicates only that its efficacy is understood through the interweaving of these dimensions.