René Guénon

French metaphysician (1886-1951) · France · Writers · Died at 64

René Guénon is read about 899 times a day, in 45 languages.

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He walked out of France and into Cairo, took a Muslim name, and spent thirty years insisting that modernity had severed the West from sacred knowledge - that only "traditional" metaphysics, rooted in the East, could restore what industrialism destroyed.

Writers Writer / Author Literature Philosophy France Europe 20th Century

A life in dates

1951Died7 January 19511929“The true function of the priesthood, then, is above all one of knowledge and teaching, and this is why, as we said above, its proper attribute is wisdom.”In their wordsp. 18Read the whole statement

“Dante's corpus as a whole is in certain respects like a testament to the closing medieval age; it shows what the Western world would have been had it not broken from its tradition.”In their wordsp. 77Read the whole statement

1927“A philosopher's renown is increased more by inventing a new error than by repeating a truth that has already been expressed by others.”In their wordsp. 56Read the whole statement

“Let us probe still more deeply into the question: what is this law of the greatest number which modern governments invoke and in which they claim to find their sole justification?”In their wordsp. 76Read the whole statement

“Aristocracy', […] taken in its etymological sense, means precisely the power of the elite.”In their wordsp. 78Read the whole statement

1921“Metaphysics, because it opens out a limitless vista of possibilities, must take care never to lose sight of the inexpressible, which indeed constitutes its very essence.”In their wordsIntroduction to the Study of the Hindu Doctrines (1921)Read the whole statement

1904Concours généralAward1886Born15 November 1886

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

Rene-guenon-1925 (cropped)

Abbaye St Arnould Metz 38

Annonce de la mort de René Guénon dans la revue Études Traditionnelles, 52e année, n° 289 , Janvier 1951

Frithjof Schuon with René Guénon in Cairo 1938

Frithjof Schuon with René Guénon in Cairo, 1938

Introduction to the Study of the Hindu Doctrines

Jafr2

Le Roi du monde (René Guénon, 1927)

In their own words 10

René Guénon

10 statements, newest first

The true function of the priesthood, then, is above all one of knowledge and teaching, and this is why, as we said above, its proper attribute is wisdom.
1929, p. 18, Own words
It is worth noting that Protestantism suppresses the clergy, and though it claims to uphold the authority of the Bible, it in fact ruins it by 'free inquiry'.
1929, p. 62, Own words
Dante's corpus as a whole is in certain respects like a testament to the closing medieval age; it shows what the Western world would have been had it not broken from its tradition.
1929, p. 77, Own words

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Awards

Concours général1904

About this person

René Guénon was born in Blois in 1886 and initiated into Islamic esotericism at 24 in 1910. Writing in French, he devoted his career to translating Eastern metaphysical doctrines - what he called traditions of "universal character" - for Western readers, insisting on strict fidelity to their spirit. His work spanned esotericism, sacred science, symbolism, and initiation; he also published in Arabic for Al Marifah. In his forties he left Europe for Egypt, adopted the name Abdalwahid Yahia, and lived in Cairo until his death in 1951. His books have since appeared in more than twenty languages.

Country

France

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Fred Vargas61.8

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