https://at-ceu.studyguide.timeedit.net/modules/RELI5008?type=COREAbbreviations used in the syllabus CEU Central European University, ViennaCoE Eurasian Transformations Cluster of Excellence (https://www.oeaw.ac.at/eurasian-transformations/home)CRS Center for Religious StudiesHISU Department of Historical Studies, CEUIKGA Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Institut für Kultur- und Geistesgeschichte AsiensISTB Universität Wien, Institut für Südasien-, Tibet- und BuddhismuskundeUniWien Universität WienThe course will consist of a series of twelve colloquia in the Fall and Winter semesters +2 colloquia and a final meeting in the Spring semester, running through the Fall, Winter, and Spring trimesters of CEU. They will treat a series of central questions. Each colloquium will be presided by an invited speaker either from Vienna, or abroad, Central questionsThe colloquia will cover the broader geographic area of Eurasia and North Africa. They will be treating religious philosophy (mostly metaphysics and ethics). At the centre of our investigations will be the general question of translatability. Some of the proposed questions to investigate will be: Are concepts of religious philosophy translatable from one natural or cultural language to another? For example: when different philosophical schools in different religions are speaking about the "unity of being" - Advaita Vedanta: Tat tvam asi ("you are That"); Sufism: Wahdat al-wujud ("the unity of Being"); Kabbala: ten Sephiroth in unity; Neoplatonism : Hen on ("the one Being") or On hen ("the existent One"); Christian Origenism: Henas tõn logikõn ("the original henad of the rational beings"), do they mean the same thing and are the systems built up around these concepts compatible to each other? Or: do Asian philosophies have a concept corresponding to the post-Aristotelian concept of matter?Is there a possible modern metalanguage to translate diverse concepts of Eurasian religious philosophy to "our" modern language, or should we be content in using the native concepts for describing religious philosophies?If there is a possible metalanguage, can this be that of modern Western (e. g. phenomenological, analytic, post-structuralist, or existentialist) philosophy or do we need to "provincialize Europe" in the words of Deepesh Chakrabarty? Can there be a gendered approach to premodern Eurasian religious philosophy?What are the general and the specific ethical principles in the envisaged systems? Do religious philosophies propound a universal and transferable ethic, or do they define diverse and largely incompatible ethical principles (e.g. the popular belief that violence is inherent in Islamic ethic, or that Jews are focusing on money)?For beginning, we will not address the "central questions" directly but through introductory lectures presenting the diverse branches of premodern Eurasian religious philosophy on their own, and then, in the ensuing discussions, return to these questions and enlighten them from diverse angles in the case studies of the specific philosophico-religious systems. Only at the completion of the series of twelve lectures+discussions will we hold a final informal meeting, which, based on the debates following the lectures/presentations, will address the central questions directly. This meetingwill be held in May 2026.The course is open to BA and MA students. Ph.D. students may audit it. Cross-listing by the Historical Studies Department and the Philosophy Department will be requested.The colloquia are organized by Prof. Marion Rastelli (IKGA), and István Perczel (CEU HISU).The colloquia are entirely financed by the Eurasian Transformations CoE.