Tolerance and Intolerance in Arabic Modernity. A Philosophical Perspective

• Applicant: Privatdozent Dr. Sarhan Dhouib
• Subject Area: Practical Philosophy
• Term: from 2020 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 433214420

In the center of my proposed project stands the philosophical examination of the discourse on tolerance and intolerance in Arabic modernity from the second half of the 19th century until the present. Debates about tolerance and intolerance are ongoing and highly controversial and demand a global discourse and solution. In Arabic modernity, the debate about the two terms – understood as a process of modernization as well as an unfinished project – had already gained a global dimension by taking place in predominantly Islamic countries like Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, Lebanon and India, as well as in the Syrian and Lebanese diaspora of the Western Hemisphere, and the exile communities of Paris and New York. The public discourse is led by very different authors (philosophers, reformists and writers) with various religious backgrounds. While the global discourse occurs among Arabic speaking authors, it is nevertheless inspired by an ongoing engagement with the concepts of the European modernity. What results is a transfer of knowledge, which finds expression in translations and the creation of new terms, reaching beyond the Arabic world.As much as Arabic modernity is considered an epoch of knowledge transfer, critical revision of tradition, pluralism of religions, the reinvention of terms and renewal of strategies of argumentation in the field of philosophy – at this time it does not attract much attention in genuine philosophical disputes. My project addresses this scholarly gap and aims to conduct a philological-hermeneutic analysis of the debate on tolerance and intolerance with special regards to the history of ideas and their normative aspects.While the field of Islamic studies focuses strongly on the status of non-Muslims inside predominantly Muslim societies, the central aspect of this project is the secular understanding of the term tolerance. It is particularly notable that the term intolerance, in its contrary and partly even positively connoted meanings, receives substantial consideration in some Arabic texts. This estimation is contrasted by other authors who speak of a „pathology of intolerance“, which has to be understood in the context of the time and culture as well as a critique of fanaticism. Focusing on the works of contemporary Arabic philosophers like Ṣ. al-ʿAẓm, N. Naṣṣār, M. Wahba and F. at-Trīkī, my project outlines a critique of intolerance. Employing a systematic analysis, my project philosophically reconstruct this debate of Arabic modernity in the form of a typology of tolerance and intolerance and focuses on reflections about freedom of speech and religion. The analysis, which highlights the global relevance of the creation of the term, intolerance, and investigates the transcultural dimension, takes its position from contemporary Arabic philosophy as well as from standard works which focus on discussions of tolerance in Europe and North America.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants