Tuesday, Sep 16, 2008
Abu Dhabi: Arabs must break the structure of their reasoning inherited from the era of decline, said a prominent Arab thinker.
"To renew Arab reason is to affect a decisive break from the structure of the Arab reason of the era of decline and its extension in to contemporary thinking," Dr Mohammad Abed Al Jabri told the audience at the majlis of General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.
The Moroccan philosopher, however, did not call for a break from tradition.
He defines a modern philosophy that is rationalist, Muslim and Arab. "Human thought is an uninterrupted dialogue between the past and present, between the present and future. Any solution to problems of the past implies the knowledge of how to resolve those of the present and the future." Dr Al Jabri called on Arabs to accept the idea that "My opinion is right but it could possibly be wrong, your opinion is wrong but it could possibly be right," quoting Imam Al Shafei.
Al Jabri urged Arabs to pursue the truth and ask questions. "Questions are more important than answers, because through questions we discover how ignorant we are."
Profile: Major intellectual
Dr Mohammad Abed Al Jabri, Professor of Philosophy at Mohammad V University in Rabat, Morocco, is one of the major intellectual figures in the contemporary Arab world.
His early research on the epistemological origins of Arab thought resulted in his major work, a trilogy: Naqd Al Aql Al Arabi (Critique of Arab Reason), published in Beirut in 1982, 1986, and 1989.
By Samir Salama
Gulf News 2008. All rights reserved.
