The Meaning of the Concept in This Book
For Arkoun, philosophy represents a free critical current that flourished in classical Islam and then receded under the pressure of jurists and orthodoxy. At the same time, it is a sign of the intellectual autonomy that did not take root in the Islamic sphere as it later did in Europe.
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
In this atlas, the concept of philosophy appears as part of the argument that links the flourishing of critical reason in certain periods of Islamic history with its later stalling in the face of theological and juristic dominance. The concept therefore does not appear as an isolated historical reference, but as an entry point for understanding the decline of the possibilities of free thought, the extension of the effects of this decline into the present, and what it reveals about the gap between the Islamic experience and the European experience in the history of reason.
How It Works Within the Atlas
This concept unfolds along two interlinked paths: a historical path that describes the flourishing of philosophy and then its decline, and a critical path that connects this decline to broader cultural and cognitive transformations. Thus, references to Greek translation, the shared Mediterranean heritage, and the Buwayhid peak of openness appear alongside the interruption of philosophy after Ibn Rushd, the dominance of the jurists, the rise of scholastic orthodoxy, and the weakening of critical reason. The concept is also tied to Arkoun’s comparisons between the Islamic world and Europe, where the conflict between philosophy and theology, the contemporary autonomy of philosophy and theology, and modernity as a moment that redefined the other and its rights all come into view. In this way, the concept functions within the atlas as a node bringing together history, critique, and the comparison of the paths through which reason took shape in civilizations.