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The power of ideas: esotericism, historicism, and the limits of discourse

W. Hanegraaff

April 1, 2013 DOI: 10.1080/0048721x.2013.767607 (opens in new tab)

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Key points Hanegraaff argues for a particular understanding of how history and theory relate, and specifically how intellectual history and discourse theory should be connected, in defending the motivations and main argument of his book against the reviewers' theoretical objections.

Abstract

This article is a response to the reviews by Giovanni Filoramo, Olav Hammer, Bernd-Christian Otto, Marco Pasi, and Michael Stausberg of Wouter J. Hanegraaff's book Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture. The author attempts to clarify his view of the relation between history and theory, and between intellectual history and discourse theory in particular; he provides a summary of his motivations for writing the book and of its main argument; he concludes by addressing a number of theoretical issues raised by the respondents.

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