Formulation of the Claim
Human beings tend to sacralize their basic actions.
Explanation
Arkoun holds that sacralization is not confined to the religious domain; rather, it is connected to a structure within the human being that leads one to confer a sacred character on certain actions and meanings. Thus, the tendency toward sacralization appears as a general human disposition, not as a trait specific to religious people alone.
Within this framework, sacralization becomes a way of understanding the human being’s relationship to what one makes and believes in, whether inside religion or outside it. The atom indicates that Arkoun connects this tendency to the human being as such, not to any particular belief.
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
This atom comes within Arkoun’s critique of the monopolization of sacredness in a closed religious discourse, and within a broader context that shows how religious meanings are formed within human history. It strengthens his thesis that understanding religion requires looking at the human being who produces its symbols and grants them their value, rather than being satisfied with fixing sacredness as a final given.
Limits of the Claim
This atom does not mean that everything human beings sacralize is identical in value or meaning, nor that it reduces religion to a mere psychological disposition. What is intended is to highlight the human capacity for sacralization, not to issue a comprehensive judgment on all forms of religiosity or to deny their specificity.