Idea
The text criticizes reducing development to economic and technological exchange, because this understanding excludes human beings themselves. Development is not merely an increase in production or an update in means; it should mean the presence of the human being in both the end and the means at once. When the human being is left out of the equation, development becomes a merely formal growth that does not touch the conditions of a dignified life or the meaning of participation.
Concise Formulation
Reducing development to economic and technological exchange: excludes: human beings
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
This idea occupies a clear place in the book’s argument against the narrow view of progress. It complements the earlier critique of stalled development by showing that the problem is not only a lack of means, but the narrowness of the conception itself. In this way, the book places the human being at the center of the discussion, and makes any conception of development tied to dignity, meaning, and social integration, not to material exchange alone.
Why It Matters
This idea is essential because it reveals the human dimension in Arkoun’s critique of a modernity confined to technology. It helps present him as a thinker who rejects turning the human being into a subordinate of machines and markets. It also highlights that the value of any development project is measured by its ability to include people in the process of transformation, not by growth statistics alone.
Brief Evidence
The text criticizes reducing development to economic and technological exchange, because this understanding excludes human beings themselves. Development is not merely an increase in production or an update in means; it should mean the presence of the human being in both the end and the means at once. When the human being is left out of the equation, development becomes a merely formal growth that does not touch the conditions of a dignified life.
Reading Questions
- What does it mean for development to exclude human beings even as it advances economically or technologically?
- How does placing the human being at the center of development change the way its success is judged?
Documentation Level
High: the claim appears in a clear place in the book’s material.