René Guénon
René Guénon | |
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Portrait from 1925 | |
| Born | René-Jean-Marie-Joseph Guénon 15 November 1886 Blois, Loir-et-Cher, France |
| Died | 7 January 1951 (aged 64) Cairo, Egypt |
| Other names | Abdalwahid Yahia |
| Philosophical work | |
| Era | 20th-century philosophy |
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| Esotericism |
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René Jean-Marie-Joseph Guénon[a][2] (15 November 1886 – 7 January 1951), also known as Abdalwahid Yahia (Arabic: عبد الـواحد يحيی; ʿAbd al-Wāḥid Yaḥiā), was a French intellectual who wrote on topics ranging from esotericism, "sacred science"[b] and "traditional studies"[c] to symbolism and initiation.
In his writings, Guénon proposes to hand down eastern metaphysics and traditions, these doctrines being defined by him as of "universal character",[3] and adapt them to western readers "while keeping strictly faithful to their spirit".[4]
Initiated into Islamic esotericism from as early as 1910 when he was 24, Guénon mainly wrote and published in French, and his works have been translated into more than twenty languages; he also wrote in Arabic an article for the journal Al Marifah.[5]
- ^ Ingram 2007, pp. 205–210.
- ^ Chacornac 2005, p. 7.
- ^ Guénon 2004a, p. foreword.
- ^ Guénon 2001, p. ix.
- ^ Robin Waterfield, Rene Guenon and the Future of the West: The Life and Writings of a 20th Century Metaphysician, Sophia Perennis, 2005, p. 44
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