How did the Bhagavadgãtà first become an object of German philosophical and philological inquiry? How were its foundational concepts initially interpreted within German intellectual circles, and what does this episode in the history of cross-cultural encounter teach us about the status of comparative philosophy today? This book addresses these questions through a careful study of the figures who read, translated and interpreted the Bhagavadgãtà around the turn of the nineteenth century in Germany: J.G. Herder, F. Majer, F. Schlegel, A.W. Schlegel, W. von Humboldt, and G.W.F. Hegel. Methodologically, the study attends to the intellectual contexts and prejudices that framed the early reception of the text. But it also delves deeper by investigating the way these frameworks inflected the construction of the Bhagavadgãtà and its foundational concepts through the scholarly acts of excerpting, anthologization, and translation. Overall, the project contributes to the pluralization of Western philosophy and its history while simultaneously arguing for a continued critical alertness in cross-cultural comparison of philosophical and religious worldviews.
By:
Bradley L. Herling, Bradley L Herling Imprint: Routledge Country of Publication: United Kingdom Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
Spine: 20mm
Weight: 690g ISBN:9780415871143 ISBN 10: 041587114X Series:Studies in Philosophy Pages: 360 Publication Date:26 May 2009 Audience:
College/higher education
,
General/trade
,
Primary
,
ELT Advanced
Format:Paperback Publisher's Status: Active
"Chapter 1-Theoretical Introduction Chapter 2-Herder and the Early Flowers of India in Germany Chapter 3-Herder Gathers the Gita's Flowers Chapter 4-The Dilemma of Pantheism in Friedrich Schlegel's Gita Chapter 5-A.W. Schlegel's ""Indian Sphinx"": The Riddle of Gita Translation Chapter 6-German Absorption in the Gita: von Humboldt and Hegel Chapter 7-Conclusion Bibliography"
Bradley L. Herling holds a full-time instructorship in the Core Curriculum at Boston University.