Simbolių ir atvaizdų interpretacijos problema senovės civilizacijose

LTSimbolių ir atvaizdų interpretacijos problema apima ir "simbolizuojamo pradmens" bei "atspindėto provaizdžio" koncepcijos suvokimą. Pavyzdžių ir jų kopijų, archetipų ir atvaizdų santykį gvildenanti metafizika (nesvarbu - ritualinės mitologijos, teologijos, filosofijos ar auklėjamosios retorikos pavidalo) yra pamatinė pažiūrėti skirtingų senovės Egipto, Mesopotamijos, Indijos ir Graikijos religinių pasaulėvaizdžių prielaida. Vienas šios monografijos tikslų - atskleisti su kosmogoniniu ritualu, mitine logika, sakraliniu menu ir kalbos filosofija susijusias simbolinio bei ikoninio mąstymo problemas tradicinėse kultūrose. Suprasdami, kad tokia pretenzinga "atsklaida" taip pat yra išankstinio idėjų horizonto nulemta interpretacija, siekiame parodyti, jog dauguma postmodernistinių diskursų nėra nei patrauklesni, nei pranašesni už tradicinį kalbėjimą mitais, metafizinėmis kategorijomis, simboliais bei alegorijomis. [Iš Įvado]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Simboliai, atvaizdai, senovės civilizacijos, metafiziniai principai; Symbols, Images, Ancient Civilizations, Metaphysical Principles.

ENThe monograph is devoted to the problem of interpretation and understanding of traditional cultures, their metaphysical principles, ontological premises, cultic images, sacred icons, and symbols. The Modem and Postmodern reductionist theories and prevailing attitudes toward the spiritual legacy of ancient Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Phoenician, and Graeco-Roman civilizations are mostly superficial, incorrect, and cannot provide a deep insight into the mysteries, rituals, sciences and arts of antiquity. The recent Western philosophical conceptions regarding simulacra, simulation, hyperinterpretation, deconstruction are based on the rejection of ail traditional metaphysics and its theory of the divine realities, theophanies, revelations, of the noetic cosmos and the alchemical imagination. The theory of Ideas, or Archetypes, which seems to be pre-Platonic and which stands at the heart of traditional thought, is also neglected as the unreal and therefore dangerous teaching. The author discusses the main differences between (1) the Modem, Postmodern and (2) the contemporary Traditional and ancient beliefs as regards the world order, ontology, cosmology, language, epistemology, sacred art, theurgy and magic. Some aspects of the Modem semiotics are criticized and compared with the ancient Mesopotamian, Indian, Greek (the Stoic and Neoplatonic) theory of signs, words, letters and scriptures. The Orphic, Pythagorean and Stoic methods of allegorical exegesis are explored and the hermeneutical strategies of Philo, Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, Proclus, Ammonius, Damascius, and Olympiodorus are revealed in order to show the formation, development and technical use of such philosophical (or cultic) terms as sumbolon, sunthema, eikön, eidolon, allegoricl, ainigma, agalma, xoanon and others.The special emphasis is laid on the so-called hieratic art, animation of statues, cosmogonical rites and anagogical function of temples, sacred images, signs, ornaments, yantras, mandalas, oracles, mantras. The author shows that the Mediaeval Christian theory of symbol can be traced back (through Dionysius the Areopagite) to Proclus, Iamblichus, the mystery cults, cosmogonical liturgies, myths and metaphysical doctrines of the Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations, or even of the more archaic cultures - both Eastern and Western. The investigation is based on the analysis of the Greek sources (especially, Homer, Plato, the Stoics, the Chaldean Oracles, Dio Crysostom, Philostratus, Iamblichus, Proclus, Damascius), translations of some Mesopotamian and Indian texts, as well as the studies of the contemporary philosophers and scholars, such as A. H. Armstrong, J. Dillon, W. Burkert, A. Danićlou, H. Zimmer, A. K. Coomaraswamy, M. Eliade, U. Eco, S. H. Nasr, F. Schuon, M. Lings, R. Guenon, G. Durand, T. Burckhardt, J. P. Vemant, A. F. Losev, A. A. Tacho-Godi, V. N. Toporov, P. Ricoeur, H. G. Gadamer, P. Sherrard, R. Lamberton, J. Baudrillard, J. Derrida, R. Brague, J. A. Coulter, J. Hillman, J. Grondin and others. [From the publication]