The Eastern Roots of Ancient Greek Culture: General Cultural, Historical and Philosophical Aspects of Orientalism and Eurocentrism

The paper is devoted to the problem of Near Eastern theoretical sources of Greek thought in the face of the pre-philosophical traditions of Egypt, Sumer, Phoenicia, and Persia, viewed through the prism of methodological approaches of orientalism and eurocentrism. This problem, which initially arose within the framework of cultural studies, history, and linguistics at the turn of the 18th – 19th centuries, by the middle of the 19th century, through the efforts of G. Hegel and E. Zeller, acquired a pronounced historical and philosophical aspect, and a century later – also a political coloring. Using the example of the analysis of this problem by such prominent representatives of modern Western historical, philosophical, and cultural science as M. Bernal, M.L. West, and J. Assmann, both obvious and not quite pronounced pros and cons of these two opposing approaches are shown. It is concluded that, despite the obvious triumph of the orientalist approach over the past decades, the Eurocentric model of the genesis of ancient Greek philosophy in its modified version, significantly different from the “classical” samples of the 19th century, still cannot be discounted. The question of the specifics and constituent elements of pre-philosophy as the most important form of spiritual culture of ancient man, which served as the foundation for the genesis of autochthonous philosophical discourse, is touched upon. In addition to the myth, which acts as the most important component of the pre-philosophical tradition within the framework of the mythogenic concept of the genesis of philosophy, the authors also consider the role in the process of the emergence of philosophy and its other components, such as ancient science and didactic tradition. Much attention is also paid to the analysis of a number of fundamental categories of culture common to the entire Eastern Mediterranean region, which will then become subjects of philosophical reflection among the first philosophers of Greece – the Miletians, Heraclitus, and the early Pythagoreans.