ماذا يعني أن نفكر عربيا في الحرية ؟

Abstract EN

This paper begins by thinking about the meaning of thought itself – together with its tools and enablers.

It concludes, that to handle the question of freedom it is necessary to rely on a normative rationality that goes beyond the functionalist reductionism of political reason.

It shows how the framework of political reason transforms the question of freedom into a rationalization technique for existing authority.

In a second part, the paper focuses on defining the features of this normative rationality, and then goes on to observe the components of a foundational system that might form an objective guarantee for the widest possible scope of freedoms.

Looking for a way forward, the paper suggests that the most important component of a discussion of freedom outside this frame is through the ideological and moral impartiality inherent in the rule of law and democracy.