Esotericism in reverse
Approaching Religion January 16, 2019 Tomas Mansikka
The article examines how a pro-Enlightenment bias in the study of Western esotericism distorts the understanding of what counts as esoteric knowledge. Using René Descartes as a case study, it argues that the conventional divide between 'critics' and 'religionists' in the field is reversed when viewed from a pre-Enlightenment perspective. The perception of what is generally agreed upon as 'esoteric' in modern studies is shown to be inverted through this historical lens.