The Centre for Arab Unity Studies. 462 pages. 2011. ISBN 13: 978 1 84885 061 3Since the earliest period of Islamic history, Arab thought has been dominated by a reverence for tradition and textual analysis. In this groundbreaking work, the great contemporary Arab philosopher Mohammed Abed al-Jabri seeks to chart a route towards modernity via the proposition that respect for textualism and tradition are not inconsistent with rationalism and that both history and philosophy are key to the evolution of knowledge systems and ways of reasoning in Arab culture. This book has been an enormous influence within the Arab world on the 'Islam and Modernity' discourse. It is published here for the first time in English and provides a fascinating insight into the currents of contemporary Arab thought.ContentsArab Reason . In What Meaning? Preliminary Approaches
Reason and Culture
Arab Cultural Time and the Problematic of Development
The Era of Codification: The Authoritative Referential Framework of Arab Thought
The Formation of Arab Reason: The Epistemological and Ideological in Arab Culture
The Bedouin, the Maker of the Arab World
Legitimising the Legitimiser (al-tashrlc li-l-musharri‘') 1: The Codification of ‘Opinion’ and ‘Legitimisation’ of the Past
Legitimising the Legitimiser 2: Analogising According to 'Precedent'
The Religious 'Rational' and the Irrational of 'Reason'
Resigned Reason 1: Within the Ancient Legacy
Resigned Reason 2: Within Arab-Islamic Culture
The Introduction of Reason into Islam
The Crisis of Fundamentals and the Fundamentals of the Crisis
A New Beginning . However!
Conclusion: Knowledge, Science and Politics in Arab Culture
