Abstract

What is at issue here is the founding of a philosophy for Lebanon, in its specific environment, that could be a viable departure into something new and worthwhile for the future, both academically and socially. Each founding is a question of origin, in whichever way we may conceive it, but never does a founding precede all origin, it is indeed made possible, as we shall see, through the work done on the question of origin. Hence, if we are to establish a new philosophy, or more appropriately for a start, a locus – whatever meanings this word may carry – for philosophy here, we must direct our attention to the origin, in its multifarious aspects. But we also want something else: not simply a foundation, but one that will lead to a transformation of our intellectual and social environment, near and far, locally and regionally. There is thus an ethical dimension, one – to keep within the Greek original, ἦθος, as well as Dewey’s meaning – that will bring about new “habits” of thinking and behaviour to be gradually generalised through various media. We must then, as we go toward the origin and its different operations, keep in mind that we are seeking to transmute.