George Giacaman, Ph.D.

on: Sadiq al-Azm: An Argumentative Arab Enlightener, by Kersten Knipp

Your identification of S.J.Al-Azm in your latest issue of qantara left the most important aspects out. For instance, you say he studied Philosophy in Beirut; that is true as far as his BA is concerned but he finished his Ph.D. at Yale University in Philosophy in the US. He is also a Kant specialist and published two books on Kant in English (one by Oxford University Press) in addition to several books in Arabic and countless articles. His book that you refer to is no doubt very influential but mentioning it alone does not give the correct overall profile. I realize there are limitations of space, but a better identification could have been done with the addition of one line or so.