Note from the Secretary General
Few years ago, the founders of the Institute of Lebanese Thought (ILT) set out to promote intellectual historical awareness and commonality in Lebanon by creating an institution dedicated to injecting rationalism, realism and scholarship into the shaping of the Lebanese role in better, and deeper, serving the people of Lebanon. Beginning with a two person-staff, and with a silk thread budget, the institution has grown in the last three years to become a well-known active body of expertise on the intellectual and cultural dimensions of the Lebanese people during the last four centuries. This institute today is proud to produce significant research in areas of humanities and social sciences that enhanced colleagues and other scholars to make them armed with wisdom and smartness in their approaches to the modern Lebanese Arab Renaissance in spite of all the political, economic and social challenges they have passed through.
In this context, the Institute is reinforcing its capacities to provide scholars with the in-depth information and ideas they need to respond to the changing dynamics of Lebanon and to advance historical and present intellectual interests.
Today, after three years of establishing the institute and creating new patterns, new paces of productive work, and on-going heritage caring projects, the Institute is able to provide university administrations, faculty members, and students with the most up-to-date analysis and ideas, as quickly and efficiently as possible, about the mind-history of our people. We are proud of what we do at the Institute. We are proud of our plan of action, our projects, our activities and our published “products”.
This ILT website is one of the outcomes of that development. Its aim is to provide the community with recent information of the Institute events via past and present activities, and the parallel expansion of the Institute's contacts with universities, and media.
My sincere hope is that you take few minutes to visit our website and to become, eventually, our online frequent visitor.
Ameen A. Rihani
Secretary General, the Institute of Lebanese Thought