What is meant
It holds that plurality is not a secondary option, but a divine and historical law that preserves society from stagnation and closure Whereas a one-dimensional society carries within itself the causes of its own ruin, because it tends toward despotism and prevents development
The atom’s structure in the atlas
- Type of argument: value-based
- Argument movement: it links one-dimensionality with ruin and makes plurality a condition for preservation and development.
- Key terms: plurality, one-dimensionality, ruin, despotism.
- Degree of centrality: original.
It shows that the value of plurality is not a social ornament, but a condition that prevents closure and despotism, and makes society capable of movement and change without disintegration.
Links that help with reading
- Muhammad Shahrur Qur’an in Contemporary Thought
- Critique of authoritarianism and one-dimensionality
- Plurality
- One-dimensionality
- Ruin
Reliance
- Supporting text: “He defends plurality as a divine and historical law”.
Place of reliance in the book
- Book: The Qur’an in Contemporary Thought.
- Location: in the first section of the book, within a comparison between plurality and one-dimensionality.
- Type of reliance: near witness.
- Marker that helps verification: one-dimensionality into ideology
- Reading note: This passage is suitable as support because the witness explicitly states that when one-dimensionality turns into ideology, ruin becomes inevitable, and this is very close to the atom.
Degree of documentation
- Level: inferred from nearby context
- Meaning of the level: the atom relies more on the meaning of the nearby context than on a single direct sentence.
- Reason for classification: the inference is drawn from his defense of plurality, not from an explicit phrase.
- Limits of reading: the wording above is an analytical summary, and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is quoted textually.
Its function in the book
Its function here is argumentative; it supports a larger conclusion in the chapter or prepares for it.
Related to
Editorial note
The atom establishes a clear value-based opposition.