The Philosophy of the Middle East Revolution, Take One: Nonviolence

Abstract

Assailed as we are with dramatic information multiplied manifold by the digital transformation of telephone and laptop carriers into direct media agents, we are all looking for our bearings to understand where we are in the Middle East, where we are going, and how to get there. Philosophy, unlike other intellectual tools and disciplines, offers insight at the most abstract level: what a revolution is about in essence. Contrary to the cynicism of those who disdain ivory tower thinkers, the philosophical investigation into the meaning of the Middle East Revolution, its Hegelian Dasein, is key to the reforms it is promising. This article is an early take, in media res, on the philosophical understanding of where we stand in the Middle East in 2011. The central question is this: what is the philosophical nature of the Revolution as it unfolds? If we get the right answer, then we can embrace the Revolution, direct it, and oppose it when needed.To the central question for the present enquiry — the philosophical essence of the 2011 Middle East Revolution — I would like to propose the following answer: nonviolence.