Fundamentalismi konstrueerimine
Constructing Fundamentalism

Summary/Abstract: This article discusses the problems related to the usage of the word ‘fundamentalism’. The word refers to a specific religious phenomenon – or groups called „fundamentalist” in various religions. It is also used to describe loosely certain attitudes that are in opposition to the liberal values of the Western world – such as the denial of pluralism, the rigid conviction that there is only one truth, one way of doing things, and etc. The premise of this article is that each discourse has its own method of constructing its objects. Thus an attempt has been made to map the usages of the word ‘fundamentalism’ in a comprehensive pattern. For this purpose, the metaphor of „axis” is used; the article describes several axes that relate to each other, but which can also be viewed separately. These are: (1) the axis of historical concreteness and conceptual vagueness; (2) the axis of form and content; (3) the axis of the essence of religion; (4) the axis of cultural variations and; (5) the axis of identity. The concept of fundamentalism can be located at several points along each of these axes, be it in the discussion of specific historical phenomena or a more general conceptualization of some aspects of our modern condition. It is hoped that the model developed in this article will help the reader to identify what it is about fundamentalism that is discussed in particular instances. The general conclusion of the author is that when speaking of fundamentalism it is better to stick to the more original usage according to which fundamentalism is a specific historical-cultural-religious phenomenon and that the secular usages of the word reveal more about the presuppositions of the speaker than they do about the phenomenon itself.

• Details
• Contents