In this paper the author discusses the encounter between Occident and
Orient in European philosophy in the second-half of the nineteenth-century and,
especially, its philosophical meaning in that context. He takes as case studies Ch.
Renouvier and M. Guyau, in France, E. von Hartmann, in Germany, and A.
Quental, O. Martins and L. Coimbra in Portugal. He shows that we can find a sort
of Buddhism disseminated in several European philosophical circles at that time,
mainly in German monism and pantheism, and in French spiritualism and neocriticism.
This came about as a result of the interest in using philosophy to explain
the relationship between the Individual and the Whole. He suggests that European
philosophy didn't actually have a clear view on what Buddhism means and what
its implications are. Furthermore, he holds that, long before our contemporary
globalization —whose relevance until now can be reduced only to technological
aspects— there was a philosophical and religious globalization, at that time, concerning
both occidental (Christianity) and oriental religions (Brahmanism and
Buddhism), and that Buddhism was at its core.
In this paper the author discusses the encounter between Occident and
Orient in European philosophy in the second-half of the nineteenth-century and,
especially, its philosophical meaning in that context. He takes as case studies Ch.
Renouvier and M. Guyau, in France, E. von Hartmann, in Germany, and A.
Quental, O. Martins and L. Coimbra in Portugal. He shows that we can find a sort
of Buddhism disseminated in several European philosophical circles at that time,
mainly in German monism and pantheism, and in French spiritualism and neocriticism.
This came about as a result of the interest in using philosophy to explain
the relationship between the Individual and the Whole. He suggests that European
philosophy didn't actually have a clear view on what Buddhism means and what
its implications are. Furthermore, he holds that, long before our contemporary
globalization —whose relevance until now can be reduced only to technological
aspects— there was a philosophical and religious globalization, at that time, concerning
both occidental (Christianity) and oriental religions (Brahmanism and
Buddhism), and that Buddhism was at its core.