Samīr Naqqāsh in His Writings Challenges Existentialist Philosophers with the Ideas of Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrīʾ
Existentialist philosophers believe that if a man is free to originate his values this will lead him to creativity and authenticity (Nietzsche), to a profound and honest religious experience (Kierkegaard), to political and social awareness (Sartre) or to a sense of full responsibility towards one�...
| Published in: | Journal of Semitic studies |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
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| Published: |
Oxford University Press
[2014]
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| In: |
Journal of Semitic studies
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| RelBib Classification: | KBL Near East and North Africa TK Recent history VA Philosophy |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Existentialist philosophers believe that if a man is free to originate his values this will lead him to creativity and authenticity (Nietzsche), to a profound and honest religious experience (Kierkegaard), to political and social awareness (Sartre) or to a sense of full responsibility towards one's society (Camus). in short, they believe there is hope for a man in his actions. But in the upside down world presented by Naqqāsh the opposite is the case: there is no existence for a man who acts purely upon his inner commands, based on values and ethical norms. to the contrary, the protagonists' existential journey in Naqqāsh's works and their attempts to take root in their societies are doomed to failure. While Sartre maintains that the ‘destiny of man is placed within himself’, that ‘there is no hope except in his action’, and that ‘every man is in possession of himself as he is’ and creates his own nature, and while Nietzsche argues that a man may discover the positive power within himself and use it by means of positive enticement, Samīr Naqqāsh, in contrast to the philosophers above, but in line with the ideas of al-ma‘arri, wants to prove that man has no free choice, nor can he hope for redemption and salvation, and that his fate is predetermined. Naqqāsh's protagonists are led to annihilation: to the desert, to the edge of the abyss, to an unknown place, to the upper worlds, with no hope for continued existence. they represent the fallen faces of rebels standing at the chasm's rim, unable to do anything, torn between their innocence, their desire to commit murder, and an aspiration to truly change the face of society. While the philosophers called for authenticity in order to live a life of active involvement in the community, Naqqāsh's protagonists demonstrated that this is impossible. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-8556 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of Semitic studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/jss/fgu007 |