“Orientalist paradigm” in the study of Oriental philosophical traditions: XIX – first half of XX century

Abstract

The authors of the monograph focus on the historiography of the study of Oriental intellectual traditions within the framework of the “Orientalist paradigm”, that is, an established system of views that determine the way problems are posed and solved. The “Orientalist paradigm” is based on Enlightenment rationalism, universalism and progressivism, and its key postulate is the thesis of the ontological and epistemological difference or even gap between the “East” and the “West” (E. Said). “Orientalism” was preceded by the “receptive-polemical” stage of understanding of Oriental intellectual traditions in the Middle Ages and the early modern period, which was characterized by the works of translators and church polemicists. “Practical Orientalism” is closely related to this period, primarily associated with the activities of missionaries, diplomats, soldiers, travelers, and merchants. In turn, academic orientalism, which began to actively develop since the 17th century, is associated with translations and critical editions and interpretation of texts, reconstruction and reinterpretation of Eastern philosophical concepts. We also turned to the analysis of “Theosophical Orientalism”, which was based on essentialist interpretations of Eastern religious traditions, emphasizing the differences between their exoteric and esoteric aspects, from which the inner essential unity of various traditions emerges. We can characterize Theosophical Orientalism as an “inverted form” of classical Orientalism. All these approaches closely intersect with each other and are manifested in different ways in the study of certain religious and philosophical traditions of the East. The result of the research was a historical-philosophical reconstruction and critical assessment of the “Orientalist paradigm” in the context of the study of Eastern philosophical traditions, which is presented in this monograph.