Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Dis/unity of Knowledge: Models for the Study of Modern Esotericism and Science

Dis/unity of Knowledge: Models for the Study of Modern Esotericism and Science Research on relations between esotericism and science exhibits a fundamental asymmetry. While historians of science have been eager to uncover esoteric contexts for early modern sciences, scholars of modern esoteric movements look almost solely at esotericism in the context of scientific progress. This asymmetry is largely due to a division of intellectual labor following lines of specialization in the humanities. The early modern period has been of supreme interest for historians of science, who have applied their expertise to uncovering important connections. In contrast, late modern esoteric thought has almost exclusively fallen under the purview of religious studies scholars, who lack the tools (and often the interest) to dissect the workings of the sciences. The result has been that, for relations of science and esotericism in the late modern period, the prevailing picture has been one of a unidirectional influence from “proper” science to a culturally parasitic esoteric discourse. The present article aims to remedy this asymmetry. A systematization and evaluation of existing approaches to esotericism/science leads to an argument that new methodology and conceptual tools are needed for a sufficient analysis of esotericism/science relations in the modern world to develop. These tools are found in the interdisciplinary field of science and technology studies. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Numen Brill

Dis/unity of Knowledge: Models for the Study of Modern Esotericism and Science

Asprem, Egil
Numen , Volume 62 (5-6): 538 – Sep 7, 2015
Download PDF
30 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/brill/dis-unity-of-knowledge-models-for-the-study-of-modern-esotericism-and-QFIXfyeDd6

References (69)

Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0029-5973
eISSN
1568-5276
DOI
10.1163/15685276-12341391
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Research on relations between esotericism and science exhibits a fundamental asymmetry. While historians of science have been eager to uncover esoteric contexts for early modern sciences, scholars of modern esoteric movements look almost solely at esotericism in the context of scientific progress. This asymmetry is largely due to a division of intellectual labor following lines of specialization in the humanities. The early modern period has been of supreme interest for historians of science, who have applied their expertise to uncovering important connections. In contrast, late modern esoteric thought has almost exclusively fallen under the purview of religious studies scholars, who lack the tools (and often the interest) to dissect the workings of the sciences. The result has been that, for relations of science and esotericism in the late modern period, the prevailing picture has been one of a unidirectional influence from “proper” science to a culturally parasitic esoteric discourse. The present article aims to remedy this asymmetry. A systematization and evaluation of existing approaches to esotericism/science leads to an argument that new methodology and conceptual tools are needed for a sufficient analysis of esotericism/science relations in the modern world to develop. These tools are found in the interdisciplinary field of science and technology studies.

Journal

Numen – Brill

Published: Sep 7, 2015

Keywords: esotericism; history of science; metatheory; science and technology studies

There are no references for this article.