TY - JOUR

T1 - Эдвард Саид и критика идеи прогресса

AU - Hosseini, S.H.

AU - Tumanian, T.

N1 - Export Date: 09 February 2026; Cited By: 0

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - This article seeks to elucidate Edward Said’s stance on the idea of progress and emphasize the influence that comprehending Said’s views on progress can have on the historiography of “Oriental” societies. Many people who believe in progress claim that things have become better for people over time, with modern Europe having the best conditions in human history. In this article, we argue that Said disagrees with such a justification of progress for three reasons: (1) such a perspective of modern Europe ignores the “non-Western” roots of modernity;(2) the idea of progress has always justified colonialism; and (3) European philosophers saw modern Europe as the pinnacle of human civilization in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries because they saw human history and many cultures through the lens of modernity. In the final part of the article, we discussed the idea of “history of absence”, a common aspect of Orientalist historiographies. We argue that our perspective on the history of “Oriental” societies differs from the Orientalist view when we no longer focus on the history of absence. The “history of absence” tells us that the historiography of “Oriental” societies involves identifying and studying the obstacles to the growth of modernity in these societies; as a result, this historiography focuses on factors that are absent rather than current circumstances. © A. Soltanzadeh, S.H.Hosseini, T.G.Tumanian, 2025

AB - This article seeks to elucidate Edward Said’s stance on the idea of progress and emphasize the influence that comprehending Said’s views on progress can have on the historiography of “Oriental” societies. Many people who believe in progress claim that things have become better for people over time, with modern Europe having the best conditions in human history. In this article, we argue that Said disagrees with such a justification of progress for three reasons: (1) such a perspective of modern Europe ignores the “non-Western” roots of modernity;(2) the idea of progress has always justified colonialism; and (3) European philosophers saw modern Europe as the pinnacle of human civilization in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries because they saw human history and many cultures through the lens of modernity. In the final part of the article, we discussed the idea of “history of absence”, a common aspect of Orientalist historiographies. We argue that our perspective on the history of “Oriental” societies differs from the Orientalist view when we no longer focus on the history of absence. The “history of absence” tells us that the historiography of “Oriental” societies involves identifying and studying the obstacles to the growth of modernity in these societies; as a result, this historiography focuses on factors that are absent rather than current circumstances. © A. Soltanzadeh, S.H.Hosseini, T.G.Tumanian, 2025

KW - Edward Said

KW - Foucault

KW - history of absence

KW - Orientalism

KW - Postcolonialism

KW - progress

M3 - статья

VL - 41

SP - 370

EP - 384

JO - Вестник Санкт-Петербургского университета. Философия и конфликтология

JF - Вестник Санкт-Петербургского университета. Философия и конфликтология

SN - 2542-2278

IS - 3

ER -