Formulation of the claim
Arkoun argues that Arabization policies, when coupled with demagogic mobilization and hostility to Orientalism and the modern sciences, turn into a tool for narrowing the epistemic field rather than expanding it.
Explanation
Arkoun places these elements within a single system that leads to isolating the cultural sphere from social research and the modern sciences, rather than building genuine epistemic modernization.
Its place in the book’s argument
This idea appears within Arkoun’s critique of the mechanisms through which cultural discourse is produced in the Arab-Islamic sphere, where he shows that some linguistic and ideological policies may work against openness to the tools of modern knowledge.
What the claim atom does not say
It does not say that Arabization is, by itself, a single or sole cause of all forms of closure, nor does it deliver a final judgment on the Arabic language itself; rather, it highlights the way these policies are deployed within a closed epistemic climate.
Brief evidence passage
Arkoun argues that Arabization policies, when coupled with demagogic mobilization and hostility to Orientalism and the modern sciences, turn into a tool for narrowing the epistemic field. They lead to isolating the cultural sphere from social research and the modern sciences, rather than building genuine epistemic modernization. In this way, they limit epistemic openness instead of expanding it.
Related links
Readings in the Qur’an · Critique of Islamic Reason · Text and History