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Benoy Kumar Sarkar was both a serious scholar of history and society and a spokesman who wanted to promote ideas of equality between East and West and highlight the secular achievements of the Hindus. He has been hailed as a pioneer of Neo-Indology, a premature postcolonial sociologist, a conservative nationalist and an anti-colonial internationalist. Elements of several ideologies can be found in his writings. This article assesses his critique of orientalist constructions of East and West, the features of Hinduism and Buddhism and their influence overseas, the peculiarities of nationalism and Hindu-Muslim relations in India and the conservative, authoritarian and cosmopolitan elements in his writings on nationalism and international affairs.

This article explores and examines the consulship as an institution in the Eastern and Western halves of the Roman Empire in the period known as Late Antiquity, that is from 284 CE to 541 CE. It investigates how the consulship of the Late Antique period differed from that of the Republic and earlier Empire, what it consisted of, who the occupants of the office were, the process of the inauguration of the new consul, the games associated with it, how the consuls were represented on the consular diptychs and the end of the institution., Mitchell Jill. The Eastern and Western Consulship in the Later Roman Empire. In: Hiperboreea. Journal of History, vol. 5, N°1, 2018. pp. 5-16.

Study focuses on cyclic concept of social change and specific notion of civilizations of Shia Iranian scholar and former president (1997–2005) Mohammad Khatami. In this philosophical framework, he deals with contemporary hot issues of post-cold war world, especially with dialogue among civilizations and with development of Iranian polity and society which tries to make a creative synthesis of the West and the East and create its own civic society and form of democracy as a result. This concept is seen in the context of deep and more than real ongoing internal conflicts between two competing forms of Shia political Islam after the Islamic revolution (1979). It focuses especially on the intra-sub-civilization clash between Khatami and so far dominant Khomeini version of political Islam and modernity. Not only Khatami but as well Karl Popper is invited to critically address the issue of Khomeini Shia historicism. At the end, the study compares Khatami with selected relevant leading Western scholars: Shmuel Eisenstadt, Amitai Etzioni, Samuel Huntington, and Francis Fukuyama.

The article demonstrates the relevance of the thought of Eugene Trubetskoy to the new method of political science, proposed by Eric Voegelin. In his essay under the title “Speculation in colors. Three Essays on the Russian icon”, the thinker develops analysis, surprisingly close to the principles of presentation and order, developed by Voegelin, and expresses a vision, which is absolutely relevant, including in terms of the offered by William Cavanaugh “theopolitical imagination”. Thanks to this approach it turns out that the availability of clear ecclesiological and historiosophical foundations for today and give us an example and a common base (for both Orthodox and Catholics) to overcome the division between East and West of the Christian world. This article attempts to show that the division between East and West, to the image of which we are so accustomed to, is neither ecclesial nor Christian, and that, on the contrary, naturally church vision of that separation is quite different. The author aims to identify in the theopolitical context, what exactly is the vision of a church split.

This volume explores the intellectual history of the Dutch Empire from a long-term and global perspective, analysing how ideas and visions of empire took shape in imperial practice from the seventeenth century to the present day. Through a series of case studies, the volume critically unearths deep-rooted conceptions of Dutch imperial exceptionalism and shows how visions of imperial rule were developed in metropolitan and colonial contexts and practices. Topics include the founding of the Dutch chartered companies for colonial trade, the development of commercial and global visions of empire in Europe and Asia, the continuities and ruptures in imperial ideas and practices around 1800, and the practical making of empire in colonial court rooms and radio broadcasting. Demonstrating the relevance of a long-term approach to the Dutch Empire, the volume showcases how the intellectual history of empire can provide fresh light on postcolonial repercussions of empire and imperial rule.

The article is concerned with interrelationship of policy and culture, in particular N.Machiavelli's political philosophy and its reflection in some short stories by R.Kipling, one of the most recognized representatives of the British imperial thought. Policy and culture have traditionally been considered almost incompatible spheres of human activity as policy tended to become more and more severe, cynical, "dirty", while culture aspired to develop supreme values and perfect ideals. Sometimes the direct confrontation between policy and religion, policy and morals, policy and law, policy and literature, policy and art in the broad sense of the word could occur. The greatest Renaissance masters - Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Rafael etc. - actively opposed any evil manifestations: evil ideas, evil words, evil doings, expressing in their masterpieces the highest ideals and values. However, these ideals and values drastically diverged from the reality, political and public relations of the time, the "dirty" policy conducted by the rulers of numerous Italian principalities. It is no coincidence that N.Machiavelli develops his new political philosophy aiming not only to create the strong unitary state, but also to overcome this "dirty" policy at least to a certain extent. Therefore, describing the mechanism of the "dirty" policy that opposes high culture, N.Machiavelli introduces a new political philosophy which should be based on the highest ideals and values. As far as literary art is concerned, one can easily see that such world famous novelists as Kipling, Chekhov, Maupassant and many others reflected in their short stories that very longing for highest values and ideals which are almost absent in political doctrines and political practice. The true policy is necessarily based on the true culture and its values and ideals, whereas the true culture is indispensably connected with the true policy.

This article examines the reception of Edward Said’s book Orientalism in Russia. While Said made little mention of Russia, a number of scholars, including Russians abroad like Vera Tolz and Alexander Etkind, have examined Russian Orientalism according to Said’s schema. As for Russia itself, the book remains relatively understudied. I explain why Said has been largely ignored in Russia, as well as the appropriation of his ideas by the nationalist right. La présente étude porte sur la réception russe de l’ouvrage d’Edward Saïd, Orientalisme. Même si cet ouvrage ne parle que très peu de la Russie, un certain nombre de chercheurs en Occident, y compris des Russes comme Vera Tolz et Alexander Etkind, ont étudié l’orientalisme russe dans l’optique de Saïd. Il n’en a pas été de même en Russie. Alors que l’ouvrage a été publié en 1978 et qu’il avait déjà été traduit en 36 autres langues en 2005, la version russe n’a paru qu’en 2006. Je propose donc de montrer ici pourquoi Saïd a été largement ignoré en Russie, et comment en même temps la droite nationaliste s’est approprié ses idées.

The article deals with the late Ottoman literary movement of New Literature (Edebiyat-ı Cedide) and asks what new conceptions of East and West there emerged in the Ottoman-Turkish novel at the turn of the century. Based on that, it tries to outline the connections of the new poetics of the novel developed by Edebiyat-ı Cedide to the Ottoman modernization process. The underlying argument of the paper is that West and East appear in these novels more as two states of mind than physical entities, as two poles of consciousness. The West becomes an elaborately crafted metaphoric space, serving as a backdrop onto which the authors, influenced by Romantic ideals, project the wounded, fragmented consciousness of their heroes. The East, on the other hand, turns into an anti-ideal, symbolizing triviality and mediocrity of the localness, stifling the novelists' dreams and desires and hindering them from being carried away by their poetic genius. We further suggest that despite the purely artistic ambitions of these authors, their writings vividly and accurately capture the problems and tensions arising from the cultural transformation of the Ottoman Empire. L'article tracta de l'últim moviment literari otomà de la Nova Literatura (Edebiyat-ı Cedide) i pregunta quines noves concepcions d'Orient i Occident van sorgir en la novel·la otomana-turca del canvi de segle. Basat en això, intenta establir les connexions de la nova poètica de la novel·la desenvolupada per Edebiyat-ı Cedide amb el procés de modernització otomà. L'argument subjacent de l'article és que Occident i Orient apareixen en aquestes novel·les més com dos estats mentals que com entitats físiques, com dos pols de consciència. Occident es converteix en un espai metafòric minuciosament construït, que serveix com un teló de fons on els autors, influïts pels ideals romàntics, projecten la consciència fragmentada i ferida dels seus herois. Orient, d'altra banda, es converteix en un anti-ideal, que simbolitza la trivialitat i la mediocritat d'allò local, sufoca els somnis i desitjos dels novel·listes i impedeix que es deixin portar pel seu geni poètic. Suggerim a més que, malgrat les ambicions purament artístiques d'aquests autors, els seus escrits capturen de manera vívida i precisa els problemes i les tensions que sorgeixen de la transformació cultural de l'Imperi Otomà. El artículo trata del último movimiento literario otomano de la Nueva Literatura (Edebiyat-ı Cedide) y pregunta qué nuevas concepciones de Oriente y Occidente surgieron en la novela otomana-turca del cambio de siglo. Basado en eso, intenta establecer las conexiones de la nueva poética de la novela desarrollada por Edebiyat-ı Cedide con el proceso de modernización otomano. El argumento subyacente del artículo es que Occidente y Oriente aparecen en estas novelas más como dos estados mentales que como entidades físicas, como dos polos de conciencia. Occidente se convierte en un espacio metafórico elaboradamente construido, que sirve como un telón de fondo en el que los autores, influidos por los ideales románticos, proyectan la conciencia fragmentada y herida de sus héroes. Oriente, por otro lado, se convierte en un anti-ideal, que simboliza la trivialidad y la mediocridad de lo local, sofoca los sueños y deseos de los novelistas e impide que se dejen llevar por su genio poético. Sugerimos además que, a pesar de las ambiciones puramente artísticas de estos autores, sus escritos capturan de manera vívida y precisa los problemas y las tensiones que surgen de la transformación cultural del Imperio Otomano.

In this article, an agenda for the development of a philosophy of religion which is informed by the challenges and possibilities of religious plurality is suggested. It is argued that the philosophy of religion as an academic discipline is in need of a kind of reconstruction if it is to maintain its relevance and connection to actual religious phenomena as they present themselves globally. The problem originates in the fact that the modern concept of religions has a distorting effect when applied to non-western traditions. The article focuses on a way to understand religious diversity by using aspects of Heidegger’s fundamental ontology to illuminate different ways of being religious within the same tradition and also to find similar religious dispositions across traditions. It is argued that this can inform interreligious dialogue so that this dialogue—or rather, polylogue—itself can serve as a tool to develop a postcolonial existential philosophy of religion. Part of this project would be to find and apply concepts and categories by reading religious traditions and subtraditions through each other. The article ends with a few suggestions on how this can be done, in this case by drawing on traditions from India.Willy Pfändtner is Senior Lecturer, Study of Religions, Södertörn University, Sweden. Website: http://webappl.sh.se/C1256E5B0040BEB2/0/9E349559FD45F42DC1257577003D0278

In Ainslee Embree and Carol Gluck, eds., Asia in Western and World History: A Guide for Teaching (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1997), pp. 514-522. The title reflects the argument that there are basic continuing misunderstandings of Japan in the early modern Tokugawa era (1600-1868), namely: 1) "Japan is a small country"; 2) "Tokugawa Japan was a feudal society"; 3) "The Tokugawa regime was a police state"; 4) "Tokugawa Japan was divided into sour separate classes"; 5) "Tokugawa Japan isolated itself from the rest of the world for more than two centuries." I argue that these assertions are misleading and simplistic.

This multi-authored work, edited and co-written by myself, was an effort to take seriously the best-selling novel of James Clavell, "SHŌGUN: A Novel of Japan" as a way of understanding changing Western images of Japan in the context of "real" Japanese history. The book appeared in September 1980, just before the television mini-series based on James Clavell's novel. It was the result of a workshop that I organized in the spring of that year at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where I was then teaching, and was edited and produced in Santa Barbara over the summer. The design was by Marc Treib of the College of Environmental Design at Berkeley, then already well known for his graphic design and books on architecture. "Learning from SHŌGUN" was distributed by the Japan Society of New York, and two printings quickly sold out. The authors are pleased to make it available here in PDF format for interested readers and teachers. We also want to emphasize that "Learning from SHŌGUN" is about Clavell's novel, not about either the TV miniseries or the feature film versions. A postscript to the book does offer my own first impressions of the miniseries, however, of which I was able to see a preview before it appeared on national television.