The Idea
This idea explains that the decline of humanism in the Islamic tradition was linked, in the text’s view, to the closure of the gate of independent reasoning and the rise of religious orthodoxy. What is meant here is that the space that had allowed for disagreement, interpretation, and inquiry began to narrow, so thought became more subject to the familiar and more cautious toward new questions.
Concise Formulation
The decline of humanism: resulted from: the closure of the gate of independent reasoning and the rise of orthodoxy
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
This claim lies at the core of the book’s argument because it identifies the mechanism of decline, not merely its result. The issue is not only that humanism weakened, but that its epistemic and religious conditions changed. The text therefore links interpretive rigidity to the contraction of the space within which free human thought could move.
Why It Matters
Its importance stems from the way it illuminates the relationship between independent reasoning and humanism. If independent reasoning narrows, the possibilities of viewing the human being as a creature capable of understanding, interpretation, and responsibility narrow along with it. For this reason, the claim helps clarify Arkoun’s critique of the domains that produce closure—not as a distant past, but as a present intellectual issue.
Brief Evidence
He holds that the closure of the gate of independent reasoning and the rise of religious orthodoxy… led to the decline of the tendency He holds that the closure of the gate of independent reasoning, and the rise of religious orthodoxy… led to a decline
Reading Questions
- How is the closure of independent reasoning connected to the weakening of humanism in the text?
- Is the decline understood here as an intellectual problem, a religious problem, a historical problem, or all of these together?
Degree of Documentation
High: the claim appears in a clear place in the book’s material.