Although we do not find in newspapers, magazines, radio or television any incidents about Arab philosophy in public debates, the phrase “Arab” - paradoxically - is full of all these spaces, but in a bad way, as if the word has nothing to do except with immigration, threats and violence facing abroad. Although Arabic, like Greek, Latin, and German, is also the language of philosophy and thought.
To explore this topic, the French magazine L'Obs met Jean-Baptiste Brunet, philosopher and professor of Arabic philosophy at the University of Paris I, to talk about the challenges that may arise from the monthly meetings open to the general public that will be organized by the Arab World Institute in Paris every Thursday, through a session A new philosophy dedicated to Arab thought.
What the institute seeks - according to Marie Lemonnet, who prepared the dialogue - is to draw attention to the fact that there is a large amount of philosophy written in Arabic, as there is a "enormous Arab philosophy", even if universities continue to ignore it in general, and enable one to open up to it, read it and discuss it, In order to discover its genius and place it in the common history of rationality, through a series of lectures in which this great institution gives the general public access to a course dedicated to this thought.
Arab thought with a human tendency
Brunet says that he chose for one of the sessions the title “Is Arab thought a humanism”?, because the term “humanism” is familiar and refers to a specific concept of man, appreciating his place in the world, his intellectual and moral dignity, his destiny, and his care for his comrades, but it is a word traditionally used to describe the Renaissance in Latin Europe. And when the problem of the humanity of Arab thought in the Middle Ages is raised, it is in order to respond to this false evidence that might lead one to believe that the previous philosophy in the Arabic language did not have this “interest” in man.
And Brunet confirms, "With this response, I stand in the face of claims like those repeated by a person such as the philosopher and orientalist Ernest Renan in the 19th century that Arab thought is neither an individual's thought nor a personality, and that everything belongs to God, and man can only solve in the mystical union, and what I want him to deny these notions, because the texts say something else."
Arab philosophy - as this philosopher sees it - is trying to establish what makes the humanity of everyone above individual idiosyncrasies, and shows that the benefit of knowledge concerns all people, not a particular group, taking into account at the same time the importance of individuality, conscience and responsibility, and therefore knowledge is everyone's concern, but every person He takes the period of his life in his own way, according to his experience, memory and history, allowing another view of Arab thought and the development of philosophy over the centuries.
Current Arabic Philosophy Questions
And when asked about the most important questions asked by Arab philosophy until today?
The French philosopher said that it is that related to philosophy itself, with the particularity that it is presented in an Islamic context and in the Arabic language, and even if everything does not revolve around the Qur’an, interpretation and language, and far from referring to Islam and Islamic law, the so-called speech is an important matter, and theology (the origins of religion) It is an important field of Islamic philosophy.
Accordingly, the great questions of Arab philosophy are those that every human faces, in terms of a sense of reality, the structure of the universe, the existence and nature of “God” and the existence of the best political system, a decent life, freedom, happiness, the pursuit of science, and so on. Everyone is interested, or for the specificity of the historical moment, the language and the religious context that changes the question and brings out new concepts.
Brunet suggests thinking about the different forms of science such as the issue of political leadership, the issue of the genesis of the world, the nature of morals and nature. He also sees the importance of discussing the concept of Orientalism by researching "methods of knowledge" in the Arab world, and even examining what Arab modernity inherited from its great predecessors such as Ibn Rushd.