The Western Concept of Religion seen through Asian Alternatives: Remarks on the Epistemic Exercise of “Inversed Hermeneutics”

Abstract

In this contribution, I discuss under the heading “inversed hermeneutics” a process wherein the conceptual, classificatory terms of a foreign knowledge system are used to interpret one’s own concepts and their underlying assumptions. A key function of “inversed hermeneutics” is to induce a deliberate alienation and thus momentarily placing the cognizing subject into a liminal state of “unfamiliarity.” This method should help to introduce and probe new ways of classifying things.