This is a lexical entry that gathers the technical meaning of this term in Shahrur across his various books and connects its multiple uses.
This entry belongs to the Shahruri glossary. For reading by theme, one may refer to Shahrur’s major themes and shared concepts.
The meaning in Shahrur
Monism is a mode of closed structure that claims exclusive possession of truth and prevents recognition of the other; for that reason, it is associated with injustice, tyranny, backwardness, and destruction. Here it appears as the opposite of pluralism, and its persistence carries within it the causes of its collapse.
Distinctions
- It differs from pluralism because it is based on exclusion and exclusivity, not on accepting diversity and participation
- It is not understood here as a divine attribute, but rather as a social and political mode that leads to tyranny and destruction.
Occurrences in his books
- State and Society: Monism in this book is the closed structure that monopolizes truth and excludes the other, and therefore Shahrur associates it with backwardness, despotism, and destruction. He presents it as the opposite of pluralism and sees monistic systems as carrying within them the seeds of their own extinction
What is adjacent to it and different from it
- pluralism
- monistic systems carry the seeds of their own extinction
- monism leads to tyranny and destruction
- monism leads to destruction
- monism produces injustice, tyranny, and destruction
- monism produces the unjust village
- monism is a divine attribute, not a social one
- monism is a divine attribute, not a human model
- monism and tyranny lead to destruction
- modern monistic systems are a continuation of the village
- social history moves from monism to pluralism
- history and society judge monism as injustice and destruction