H.E.R.M.E.S.

The Section for Research into the Nature of Esotericism

[Hermes Trismegistus and the creative fire that unite the polarities in D. Stolcius van Stolcenbeerg, Viridarium chymicum, Frankfurt, 1624]

This section is dedicated to research into, and discussion of, the Nature of Esotericism. This section thus deals with the question: “What is Esotericism?

A short Introduction to ‘The Nature of Esotericism’:

One of the most important aspects of any academic study is to define the field of study itself. This section thus deals with the question: What is X (i.e. esotericism)? Different philosophic-scientific stances will approach and answer this question very differently. The academic society at large is in no way based on one single and commonly accepted view of what reality consists of and this obviously results in various definitions of the nature of Esotericism. Nominalistic stances will for example tend to regard Esotericism as a scholarly construct – a concept created and utilised for classifying diverse empirical and particular historical phenomena, whereas realist or idealist stances will tend to regard Esotericism as a real independent metaphysical entity sui generis.We have chosen to make methodology a separate section within H.E.R.M.E.S. which means that the present section generally concerns itself with presenting and discussion different perspectives on the Nature of Esotericism and what consequences these perspectives bring with them when one applies the definitions to actual historical events.