The Meaning of the Concept in This Book
Modernity, for Arkoun, is the historical context in which human reason became independent from metaphysical references, and in which theological hegemony receded in favor of science, philosophy, and human rights. It is also a standard by which he measures the extent to which Arab Islamic societies have faltered in keeping pace with epistemic transformation.
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
Modernity appears in this book as a reference point for understanding the modern Arab-Islamic crisis, not as a mere historical ornament or a purely material transition. Through it, Arkoun distinguishes between material modernization without intellectual modernity and a transformation that affects the very tools of thought. Modernity is therefore tied here to the question of breaking with tradition, to the question of the place of religion and reason, and to the transformations that redefined the other and its rights.
How It Works Within the Atlas
Within the atlas, modernity functions as an interpretive node connecting multiple paths: critique of reason, history, critical secularization, and modern reading tools. It is also read in terms of its effect on Europe itself, where it produced the independence of reason, and in terms of the gap created by its reception in the Arab-Islamic context. For this reason, it is linked to the philosophical translation of modernity, to the warning against projecting it onto the past, to the question of the transfer of legitimacy to human rights, and to the tense independence between religion and reason.