گوئٹے کی مشرق پسندی، روشن خیالی کا ردِّ عمل:تجزیاتی مطالعہ
Keywords:
Goethe’s Orientalism, Western Enlightenment, intellectual reaction, spiritual void, moral decline, West-östlicher Divan, Eastern wisdom, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Johann Gottfried Herder, Edward Said’s Orientalism, colonial vs. non-colonial Orientalism, Iqbal’s Payam-e-Mashriq, philosophy of khudi, Rumi’s concept of love, East-West intellectual dialogue, spiritual and civilizational harmonyAbstract
This paper presents an analytical study of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Orientalism, which can be regarded as an intense intellectual reaction against the material stagnation, intellectual superiority, and scientism of Western Enlightenment. Goethe keenly perceived the growing spiritual void and moral decline in Western societies and turned to Eastern wisdom and spirituality to seek a remedy. West-östlicher Divan (1819) is a reflection of Goethe’s intellectual and spiritual reaction, where he presented Eastern insight as an alternative to Western materialism.
The paper also highlights that Goethe’s Orientalism was not merely a product of aesthetic fascination or a romantic attachment to Eastern poetry but was, in fact, a meaningful intellectual rebellion against the one-dimensional rationalist model of the Enlightenment. Influenced by thinkers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Johann Gottfried Herder, Goethe realized that materialism and scientific stagnation had deprived Western societies of their spiritual and cultural values, which led him to seek inspiration from the East.
The study further analyses Goethe’s Orientalism in the context of Edward Said’s Orientalism (1978), emphasizing that Goethe’s approach was markedly different from colonial Orientalism. Goethe did not view the East merely as a romantic or backward region but rather as a spiritual alternative to Western decline.
The paper also explores how Iqbal critically evaluated Goethe’s West-östlicher Divan and, in response, presented a balanced civilizational model in Payam-e-Mashriq by blending Eastern spirituality with Western rationality. According to Iqbal, Goethe’s Orientalism was a source of inner solace, but it was Rumi’s concept of divine love and the philosophy of khudi that offered a genuine remedy for the West’s spiritual crisis. The paper concludes that the intellectual dialogue between Goethe and Iqbal still holds the potential to foster intellectual and spiritual harmony between the East and the West.
