Introduction

Abstract

A description of the aims, methodological approach, and limits (conceptual and geographical) of the book, and its structure. It clarifies the expression “Arab world” and the choice of a particular area within it. It explains that the book is divided into three parts, each requiring a different approach. The first deals with Hegel’s philosophy and his ideas on history; the second considers the (indirect) reception of his thought in nineteenth-century Ottoman Syria; the third deals with the contemporary reception in Syria, Lebanon, and partly Egypt, through bibliographical research and interviews with some important representatives of the cultural world in the area.