Comparativism in the history of religions

Some models and key issues

Dados Bibliográficos

ID5116848
AutoresSilvia Mancini (0000-0003-0673-3347, University of Lausanne, autor correspondente)
Ano2007
Volume37
Fascículo4
Páginas282-293
Data de publicação2007-12-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoReligion (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0048-721X • E-ISSN: 1096-1151
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1016/j.religion.2007.10.004
OpenAlexW2001821818
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas6
Referências citadas7

The purpose of this article is to defend a specific epistemological position, which the author places in the context of twomodes of comparativismfrequently practised in the comparative studies of some culturalproductions commonly subsumed under the adjective ‘religious’. These are, on the one hand, an anthropological/analogical comparison bent upon ‘generalizing’; on the other hand, a comparison of a historical type, which looks for ‘singularities’. Both are based on the distinction between the ‘universal’ and the ‘particular’. The author distances herself fromboth positions andmakes a plea for another one, called ‘differential comparativism’,which is based on the distinction between the ‘general’ and the ‘differential’. She submits that this third approach proves to be historically and empiricallymore firmly grounded, therefore epistemologicallymore fruitful.For the historianof religions, it has notably the advantage of serving as an efficient antidote against various risks. These risks are, namely, the essentialism which is implicit in any religiously, anti-historically oriented phenomenology; an also often implicit agnosticism; an empiricismlimited to themere, a-problematic description of the so-called religious phenomena; and, last but not least, an absolute cultural relativism. This form of comparativism, called ‘differential’, has already brought about remarkable results in the History of Religions, mainly thanks to the works of the scholars of the School of Rome founded by Raffaele Pettazzoni. The latter was, indeed, the first who successfully tried to reconcile the necessity of a truly historical knowledge of civilizations with the holistic and systemic procedures of cultural and social anthropology

Epistemology · Relativism · Sociology · African history and culture analysis · Historical and Linguistic Studies · Philosophy · Study and Philosophy of Religion