File:Rene-guenon-1925.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
René Guénon
Sign in to saveAlso known as Rene Guenon, Rene Jean Marie Joseph Guenon, René-Jean-Marie-Joseph Guénon, René Jean Marie Joseph Guénon
French metaphysician (1886-1951)
OverviewAI-generated
René Guénon (1886–1951) was a French and Egyptian writer, philosopher, and orientalist. Born in Blois, France, he was educated at the University of Paris and held the position of full professor. His fields of work included philosophy and metaphysics, and he was associated with mysticism. Guénon received the Concours général award and later adopted the pseudonyms Abdel Wahed Yahia and Sheikh Abdel Wahed Yahia. He practiced Islam and died in Cairo, where he is also buried.
Among his published works are *L'erreur spirite*, *Initiation et réalisation spirituelle*, *La métaphysique orientale*, *El Esoterismo de Dante*, and *Man and his becoming, according to the Vedanta*.
Synthesized by Vinony from 31 facts across 6 sources: Wikidata, Crossref, Open Library, MusicBrainz, Last.fm, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1886
- Died
- 1951
- Works
- 223
Top works
- L'erreur spirite
- Initiation et réalisation spirituelle
- La métaphysique orientale
- El Esoterismo de Dante
- Man and his becoming, according to the Vedanta
via Open Library + Wikidata
Listeners · Last.fm
- Listeners
- 23
- Total plays
- 109
<a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Ren%C3%A9+Gu%C3%A9non">Read more on Last.fm</a>
Recent publications · Crossref
5 total works indexed
- Radiotherapy plus Concomitant and Adjuvant Temozolomide for Glioblastoma
· 2005 · cited 18,721x
- Sarcopenia: revised European consensus on definition and diagnosis
· 2018 · cited 11,542x
- The Clavien-Dindo Classification of Surgical Complications
· 2009 · cited 10,406x
- Gene expression profiling predicts clinical outcome of breast cancer
· 2002 · cited 7,506x
- Effects of radiotherapy with concomitant and adjuvant temozolomide versus radiotherapy alone on survival in glioblastoma in a randomised phase III study: 5-year analysis of the EORTC-NCIC trial
· 2009 · cited 6,597x
via Crossref · CC0
Quotes
- “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.”
- “Europeans, since the days when they began to believe in "progress" and in "evolution," that is to say since a little more than a century ago, profess to see a sign of inferiority in this absence of change, whereas for our part, we look upon it as a balanced condition which Western civilization has failed to achieve.”
- “Is it because Westerners have come to lose their intellectuality by over-developing their capacity for action that they console themselves by inventing theories that set action above everything else, and even, as in the case of pragmatism, go so far as to deny that there exists anything of value beyond action; or is the contrary true, namely, that it is the acceptance of this point of view that has led to the intellectual atrophy we see today?”
- “Matter is essentially multiplicity and division, and this-be it said in passing-is why all that proceeds from matter can beget only strife and all manner of conflicts between peoples as between individuals. The deeper one sinks into matter, the more the elements of division and opposition gain force and scope; and, contrariwise, the more one rises toward pure spirituality, the nearer one approaches that unity which can only be fully realized by consciousness of universal principles.”
- “There is an exact correspondence between a world where everything seems to be in a state of mere 'becoming', leaving no place for the changeless and the permanent, and the state of mind of men who find all reality in this 'becoming', thus implicitly denying true knowledge as well as the object of that knowledge, namely transcendent and universal principles.”
- “It was however only in the nineteenth century that men began to glory in their ignorance–for to proclaim oneself an agnostic means nothing else–and claimed to deny to others any knowledge to which they had no access themselves; and this marked yet one more stage in the intellectual decline of the West.”
via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA
Key facts
- Born
- René-Jean-Marie-Joseph Guénon , ( 1886-11-15 ) 15 November 1886, Blois , Loir-et-Cher , France
- Died
- 7 January 1951 (1951-01-07) (aged 64), Cairo , Egypt
- Other name
- Abdalwahid Yahia
- Spouse
- Fatima ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1934 )
- Era
- 20th-century philosophy
- Region
- French philosophy Islamic philosophy Hindu philosophy
- School
- Orientalism Advaita Vedanta Sufism Nondualism Platonism Traditionalism
- Main interests
- Metaphysics Symbology Mythology Esoterism Gnosticism History Freemasonry Mathematics Social criticism
- Notable ideas
- Unity of metaphysics Critique of modernity from the perspective of ancient wisdom traditions Refounding Western esotericism using Eastern ideas Guénonian metaphysics
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- René
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- Egypt
- Place of birth
- Blois
- Place of death
- Cairo
- Occupation
- orientalist
- Educated at
- University of Paris
- Languages spoken
- French
- Religion
- Islam
- Award
- Concours général
- Field of work
- metaphysics
- Image
- Rene-guenon-1925 (cropped).jpg
Show 7 more facts
Sources (7)
via Wikidata · CC0
~40 min read
Encyclopedic overview
René Jean-Marie-Joseph Guénon (15 November 1886 – 7 January 1951), also known as Abdalwahid Yahia (Arabic: عبد الـواحد يحيی; ʿAbd al-Wāḥid Yaḥiā), was a French-Egyptian intellectual who wrote on topics ranging from esotericism, "sacred science" and "traditional studies" 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", and adapt them to western readers "while keeping strictly faithful to their spirit".
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “René Guénon” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.