The Phenomenon of Tradition as a Factor of the Dialogue of Cultures: Philosophical-Religious Aspect

Abstract

The article analyzes the phenomenon of tradition from position of its understanding as a factor of intercultural and interreligious dialogue. At the same time, the very concept of ‘tradition’ is considered by the authors through the prism of the philosophy of Rene Guenon’s traditionalism, for whom tradition is a connecting factor between cultures. The authors determine that in the Genonian understanding, tradition has exoteric and esoteric sides, and it is through the latter that there are coincidences between religious traditions of different cultures. The true essence of such a tradition is comprehended through intellect and intuition, which lay outside the framework of rational thinking, but get to the level of the spiritual and irrational, which in fact leads to intellectual intuition and reveals the esoteric essence of tradition. Considering the exoteric side, the authors establish its focus on maintaining social order, because not every individual can have the necessary ‘qualifications’ to comprehend the essence of tradition. For Guenon, both sides of the tradition, despite their differences, have similarities in the cultures of the East and the West, but it is Western civilization at the present stage of its development that is undergoing a state of severe spiritual crisis, the loss of the traditional path of development. Thus, the teachings of Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, and also Thomas Aquinas, were of the traditional nature, but with the beginning of the Renaissance they were completely lost. The authors conclude that the Western anti-traditionalism, expressed in materialism, egalitarianism, and individualism, tends to extrapolate its worldview to all other cultures, resulting in a confrontation with the East. In this sense, the spiritual crisis is transformed into a whole civilizational crisis of the West, the only way out of which is the revival of tradition in the form of religion based on the Eastern experience.

Keywords:

tradition, traditionalism, religion, culture, civilization, dialogue, comparative philosophy, intercultural philosophy