Інтегральний традиціоналізм та philosophia perennis в контексті європейської культури

Abstract

The article examines the school of integral traditionalism as an intellectual phenomenon of European culture of the XX-XXI centuries. An excursion was made into the history of the formation of this phenomenon, an overview of its directions, personalities and key concepts. The connection of traditionalism with idealistic philosophy, Romanticism, right-wing ideologies and academic religious studies is traced. The study concluded that integral traditionalism, as a special form of Western esotericism, is an organic part of European culture. Its place in the space of the latter can be represented in the form of a diagram consisting of three circles. The largest of them will represent idealistic philosophy as a whole (from the origins to the present day). The circle of a smaller diameter inscribed in it will be perennialism – a system of ideas about Philosophia perennis as a common source and secret (esoteric) content of different religions and spiritual teachings. An even smaller circle inscribed in the second circle will be integral traditionalism itself as the most "concentrated" form of perennialism, characterized by a high degree of rationalization and self-removal from the semantic codes of Modern and Postmodern. Moreover, all the three circles can be divided into two parts – connected with a living spiritual tradition (through initiation) and devoid of such a connection. As a form of Western esotericism, integral traditionalism claims a fundamentally "gnostic" status. This feature separates it both from religion, in which, in the words of R. Guenon, "intellectual elements are mixed with emotional", and from secular science, which, with all its rigor and objectivity, remains entirely a "profane" phenomenon. At the same time, the principles of traditionalism, distinguished by their "holistic" character, have prospects of application to various fields of humanitarian knowledge.