The Idea and Contradictions of the Enlightenment Movement

Description

The word “enlightenment” has recently become a pivotal term in Arab political and philosophical discourse. It may be useful to comment on what has happened to the term in the Arab context. We can observe the following: Definitions of enlightenment in Arab literature are very general. It is clear that this metaphorical image of light is not a creation of the secular Arab mind, but rather an image borrowed from the Western tradition. The Enlightenment movement is presented to the Arab reader as a set of good ideas whose adoption will lead to the reform of the state of the country and its people. Secular thought is not sufficiently open to all other civilizations; for it, the boundaries of the world end with the Western world. Therefore, it knows nothing about enlightenment in China, for example, and the Western mind invented the metaphorical image of enlightenment in the eighteenth century when modern science was still in its infancy. Four centuries after the Enlightenment, Western man discovered that things are not so simple. If they were, we would have eradicated evil and evildoers, or at least most of them, long ago. The sweeping racist movement of the 19th century would not have emerged in the Western world, which had long since embraced the ideals of the Enlightenment. Nor would a brutal imperialist force have formed, exterminating and subjugating entire populations. Two world wars (both Western) would not have erupted. Stalinist and Nazi regimes, which destroyed not only the mind but also the spirit and body, would not have arisen. Revolutionary movements that initially defended humanity would not have transformed into terrorist governments that exterminated millions. We would not find ourselves in cities with a cacophony of rhythms, walking the streets constantly looking around us. We would not wake up each morning asking about news of pollution, nuclear explosions, ethnic cleansing, bribery, arms deals, corruption, pornography, AIDS, celebrity gossip and scandals, family breakdown rates, the extent of the North’s exploitation of the South, and the Swiss bank accounts of Third World leaders. Nor would absurd and irrational movements that are hostile to reason have emerged. It proclaims with joy and elation the dismantling of humanity and the end of history. We felt alienated to the point that the symbol of humanity in modernist literature became Sisyphus, living a meaningless life, and the symbol of the modern age became the wasteland. Modern man spent his time waiting for Godot, who would never come.