Includes bibliographical references and an index.

Part I Introduction
1. Research on the Arab National Character
2. Cognitive-Epistemological Research
3. The Focus of the Present Study

Part II Comprehensive Conceptions of the Arab Mind
1. Patai’s Characteristics of the Arab Mind
2. Al-Jabiri’s Characteristics of the Arab Mind
3. Tarabishi’s Critique of Al-Jabiri
4. Comments on Al-Jabiri’s Work
5. The Contribution of Ali Al-Wardi
6. The Aristocratic Profile of the Bedouin
7. Al-Wardi’s Focal Question

Part III The Epistemic Orientation of the Arab Culture: An Empirical Investigation
1. Cognitive styles
2. Learning Styles
3. Thinking Styles
4. Psycho-Epistemic Styles
5. The Epistemic Orientation Model
6. Stability and Heritability of Styles
7. Epistemic Orientations of Cultures
8. The Study

Part IV The Arab Mind as a Function of the Rational Epistemic Orientation

a) Religious Dogma and Secular Ideology
1. The Arab Mind Is Global rather than Holistic
2. The Arab Mind Is “Emotional”
3. The Arab Mind is confrontational and Polemical
4. The Arab mind is Radical

b) Cause Location Catalyzed by Contempt
5. The Arab Mind Is Focused on the Right of Society

c) A Revolution from the Top
6. The Arab Mind Is Active in the Defence of Culture
7. The Arab Mind Allows for Intellectual Holds on Behaviour
8. The Arab Mind Is Retentive and Extravagant in Information
9. The Arab Mind Integrates Ultimate Values with the Political
10. Abstraction in Honour, Body, Arms, Revenge, & Memory
11. Abstraction and Allegiance
12. When Abstraction Fails: Narration as Integration
13. The Arab Mind Affirms Two-Dimensional Thought

Part V The Arab Mind as a Function of the Isolation Mechanism

Why Are You “Jerking” Them?

The Splitting Mechanism

The Isolation Mechanism
1. The Isolation between Intention and Action
2. The promise: Further Analysis
3. Isolation among Three Planes: Thoughts, Words, and Actions
4. Isolation between a Negative Statement and its Target
5. The Isolation between Small Quantity and Big Aggression
6. Is There Arab Deficiency in Converting Quality to Quantity?
7. The Isolation between Small Aggression and Big Aggression
8. Isolation between the Divine and Mundane Realms

Part VI The “Spell” of the Arabic Language
1. The strengths of the Arabic Language
2. The Spell of the Arabic Language
3. Basic Epistemology
4. Marcuse, Rand, and Royce
5. A Subatomic Model of Concepts
6. The Extreme Expression of the Three Concepts
7. Concepts as Energy Activators
8. Surplus Energy in Jokes
9. The “Spell”: As Surplus Affect Generated by Arabic Syntax
10. Prospects of the Arabic Language

Part VII From Two-Dimensional Thinking to Multi-Dimensional Thinking: A Grand Cognitive and Affective Space
1. The Rational Epistemic Orientation as Two-Dimensional thinking
2. Conscious Ambivalence as Two-Dimensional Affect
3. The Planes of Speech, Thought, and Action as Three-Dimensional Thought
4. Anger, Fear, and Contempt as Three-Dimensional Affect

Contempt and the Pizza Model of North America
5. Three Autonomous Dimensions as a Personality Profile
6. Three-Dimensional Negating: Negation of Negating Entities
7. Three-Dimensions at the Literacy Domain
8. Three Planes and Three Levels of Hostility Expression
9. Is Martyrdom Suicide three-dimensional?

Part VIII Other Creative and Socially Redeeming Features of the Arab Mind
1. Shamata: An Aesthetic Sentiment
2. The Aesthetics of the Grand Statement
3. The Integration of Drama into Real Life
4. Al-Hishma as the Negation of Exhibitionism
5. The Objectification of the Subjective
6. Arab Hospitality as Antidepressant
7. Al-Sabr: A Discipline Needed in Contemporary Living
Conclusion

Part IX From Multi-Dimensional Thinking to Dual and Dichotomous Thinking: The State of Intellectual Retreat

Duality as Splitting and Crude Adaptation

Why Duality?

Why the Worst of Both?
1. A Bicultural Duality?
2. A Moral Duality
3. A Dual Behaviour with Money
4. An Ecological Duality

Dichotomous Thinking as Non-Dialectical and Inadequate Thinking
1. Analysis as Diagnosis
2. Progression of Dichotomous Thought Toward Absolute
3. The Global-Concrete Dichotomy
4. The Arab vs. West Dichotomy
5. The Dichotomous Perspective toward the Arabic Language
6. Dichotomy within Self-Identity
7. Dichotomy between Modernity and Backwardness
8. Dual and Dichotomous Thinking and Creativity

Conspiracy Thinking: The Vibe and the Dichotomous
1. Conspiracy Thinking has an Affinity to a Rational Style
2. Characteristics of Conspiracy Thinking
3. The Impact of Intellectual Skills on Conspiracy Thinking
4. Conspiracy Denial
5. Conspiracy Thinking and Paranoid Thinking
6. Not all Arab Attributions of Ill Intentions are Conspiracy
7. The Dichotomy in Conspiracy Thinking
8. Positive Functions of Conspiracy Thinking
Conclusion

Part XI Social Catalysts of Cultural Collapse
1. A Paramount Question
2. The State of Cultural Retreat
3. Two Significant Conditions for Cultural Retreat
4. Mercantilism as Small Size and Utilitarian Norms
5. Cultural Integrity and Mercantilism
Political Mercantilism
Anti-Intellectual Political Parties
Cognitive Analysis of Anti-Ideological Political Parties
Cognitive Analysis of Anti-Ideological Political Parties
6. The Collapsed Juxtaposed to the Successful and the Ideal
7. The Chinese Yin/Yang versus Arab Abstract/Concrete Divide
8. The Palestinian Expression of the Abstract/Concrete Divide
9. Cultural Collapse: Summary and Conclusion
10. Secularism and Religious Dogma

Part XII A Personality Catalyst towards Cultural Collapse
1. Conflict Avoidance as a Generalized Personality Syndrome
2. Conflict Reconciliation as a Generalized Personality Syndrome
3. Individual Embodiments of Conflict Reconciliation
4. The Three Catalyst of Collapse
5. Deliverance
6. The Achilles Heel of the Arab Mind: Al-Maqtal
7. Prophylactic Considerations

Part XIII Comparative, Educational, and Communication Issues and Challenges
1. The Anglo-American and Arab Epistemic Orientations
2. The Germanic and Arab Epistemic Orientation
3. The Educational Implications of the Arab Mind
4. Training in Abstract and Critical Reasoning
5. Cross-Cultural Communication Difficulties
6. Arab Music as a Victim of Collapse Anxiety
7. Collapse Anxiety and the Resistance to Marxism
8. Contemporary Threats and Challenges to the Arab Mind
9. Meeting Challenges of the Times

Part XIV The Ontological Status of Abstraction and Concreteness: with a Critical Rebuttal from the Arab Mind
1. The Ontology of Concreteness in Crime
2. The Ontology of Concreteness in Charity
3. The Ontology of Abstraction in Hostility
4. The Naturalization of Social Behaviours: The Grand Ontological Deception
5. The Ontology of Intellectual Simplicity
6. The Ontological Implications of Benthamian Ideas
7. Ideology is Not Coming to an End
8. The Achilles Heel of Contemporary Western Society
9. Political Safe Arms
10. The Power of de facto
11. Viability of Cultural products for Export

Conclusion

Epilogue

Appendices

References

Subject Index

"The Arab Mind is intended neither as a recipe for resolving the protracted conflict between the West and the Arab-Islamic world nor as a plea for tolerance and peace: It is primarily an attempt at something more fundamental – understanding. Abdennur argues that the clash of Western and Arab cultures is rooted not only in conflicting positions that each culture has taken on moral, religious, territorial, and political issues but also in the different styles of thinking that underlie such issues. Abdennur’s analysis of the literature on Arab thinking and his own original empirical research provides evidence that the predominant characteristic of the Arab mind is a rational epistemic style. Arab thinking is characterized by a fundamental and overriding drive for abstraction and ideology combined with strong affect, radicalism, two-dimensionality, isolation, awareness of the rights of society, and a need to integrate ultimate values with political administration. It is also argued that the Arab epistemic orientation has educational, communicational, and intellectual perspectives that could present a critical challenge to the current Western culture. The Author argues that a state of decline may occur if Arabs lose touch with abstract thinking and identifies three conditions that may catalyze a retreat into self-centred utilitarianism, compromise, and demoralization." (Book Cover)