LAUSR

The Arab world is headed for change, which also presumes a transformation of social consciousness. Al-Jābirī connects this change with the need to understand the historical reasons behind the formation of this consciousness, which he connects with the spiritual development of Maghreb (the Western Arab world) and Mashriq (the Eastern Arab world). Maghreb gave rise to Averroism, represented in the rationalist doctrine of Ibn Rushd, whereas Mashriq produced the philosophy of Sufism and Ishraqism. This opposition created an epistemological rupture. Today, the episteme inherited from the past (Arab rationalism) is in conflict with the demands of modern development; there is a new rupture between the Arab reason of the past and the demands of a new reality. It is the job of contemporary philosophy to reevaluate Arab reason, to conceive a new renaissance (a new nahḍa), and to propagate a new rationalism.