Ali Harb
Ali Harb is a Lebanese writer, intellectual, and philosopher, he has many works and is known for his style of writings. He is influenced by Jacques Derrida, particularly with his theory of deconstruction. His book Critique of the Text is part of the curriculum in the University of Paris. He stands against elitism, intellectual fundamentalism, and formal logic which is based on holistic thinking not abstract intellectual tools and mechanisms for consideration and thought. Harb follows Kant’s approach of critiquing the mind and its mechanics and intellectual structure.
Identity
Ali Harb was born in 1941 in El Babliye, South of Lebanon. He taught philosophy, which was part of the Lebanese curriculum, until he retired. Harb introduces himself in his book Identity Speech: An Intellectual Biography saying:“I am a Bedouin, a heathen, a tribal, an Arab, a Muslim, a Lebanese Shia, a Greek, a Westerner, and a French in one meaning or another. A Christian, a Jew, a Buddhist…”In an interview Harb says,
“I expressed my definition of identity as a person who is open to diversity and difference, when the Civil War, which is far from over, started because of how identities are treated. The horrible experiences, successive failures, and day-to-day life made me place my identity as a Muslim Arab Lebanese on the table of criticism and dissection to reveal what is behind it of illusions, stereotypes, or narcissistic reveries. The outcome was that I developed a new conviction about the identity being its statistics and relations with others, as much as it is a web of its own changing reciprocal effects and continuous transition process. As the case for strong identities. It is its ability to communicate and engage with the other, as much as it is its capacity for constant renewal considering the transitions and impact of crises. Let alone when we are in the age of communication and interdependence, where interests and fates are intertwined.”
Three stops
Harb specifies three fixed stops to his identity, he says,“There are three pillars: first, my home country, Lebanon, where I live and work. Then, my career as a writer. And finally, my Arab identity as I speak and write using Arabic. Religious origins and narrow, sectarian ideologies do not concern me much. I do not acknowledge them and try to break out of their suffocating classifications, which put a person in specific categories to later refer to him or her by a number in a crowd to serve a holistic purpose, or to a person in a herd, driven by all kinds of blind instincts, as we suffer in Arab countries with a multi-ethnic structure.”