Intended meaning
Shahrur holds that civil society rests on accepting plurality and preventing coercion—that is, recognizing differences among people and not imposing a single opinion on them. In contrast, the monolithic society leads to tyranny and ruin
The atom’s structure in the atlas
- Type of argument: political
- Argument movement: Civil society is based on accepting plurality and preventing coercion.
- Key terms: civil society, plurality, coercion, tyranny.
- Degree of centrality: original.
This atom explains the basis of civil society in Shahrur’s view as a space that accommodates difference and prevents domination, and thus it is distinguished from the monolithic pattern that leads to tyranny.
Links to help with reading
Support
- Supporting text: «Civil society is based on accepting plurality and preventing coercion, whereas the monolithic society leads to tyranny and ruin».
Location of support in the book
- Book: The State and Society.
- Location: in the middle section of the book
- Type of support: near witness.
- Mark for verification: establishing the principle of plurality based on accepting the other
- Reading note: This passage is suitable evidence because it enumerates clear foundations of civil society, foremost among them plurality, acceptance of the other, and rejection of coercion.
Degree of documentation
- Level: directly documented
- Meaning of the level: the atom rests on an explicit witness close to the wording of the claim.
- Limits of reading: the wording above is an analytical summary and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is quoted word for word.
Function in the book
Its function here is definitional; it establishes a meaning or conceptual distinction on which Shahrur relies in constructing the idea.
Editorial note
The explanatory addition was removed and the idea of plurality remained.