PHENOMENOLOGICAL HIEROHISTORY IN ELIADE AND CORBIN

Abstract

This article starts from the premise that both Mircea Eliade and Henry Corbin were intrinsically linked to the phenomenological tradition. As far as Eliade’s phenomenology of history is concerned, the interpretation keeps in mind the tensions, dilemmas and contradictions within his theory. That is, for Eliade historicity is at once a fundamental element of the human condition, a sign of the primordial or modern fall of human existence, a terror to be avoided, and a plane of being to be abandoned. The article also devotes attention to Eliade’s personal life story and his political engagement. As regards Henry Corbin, special emphasis is placed on the fact that, although he was an important recipient of Heidegger’s phenomenology of history, he departed from it in essential points. Attention is given to the way in which Corbin’s phenomenology analyses sacred space (and time) as being related to eternity, thus opening up the possibility of metahistory.