Waters of Otherness and Unity: the Mediterranean and the Western Currents of Non-Dualist Thought
Leandro BERTONCELLO
Original title: Águas de alteridade e de unidade: o Mediterrâneo e as correntes ocidentais do pensamento não dualista
Published in Intercultural Mediterranean
Keywords: Mediterranean, Non-dualism, Unity of Being, Western philosophy.
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This article analyzes the development of non-dualist thought in the Mediterranean, challenging the traditional view that restricts it to Eastern spiritualities. Based on the region’s dynamics of fragmentation and connectivity, it argues that the search for the unity of Being permeated various Western philosophical traditions, from Parmenides to Ramon Llull. The circulation of ideas in the Mediterranean fostered the formulation of concepts that reject the absolute separation between subject and object, spirit and matter, divine and human. Furthermore, the study examines how modern philosophical historiography marginalized or reinterpreted non-dualist currents in the West, emphasizing dualism as a dominant feature. The reassessment of this intellectual legacy allows for the recognition of the Mediterranean as a space of philosophical synthesis, where unity and multiplicity were reconciled within a distinct tradition. Thus, the article proposes a critical reevaluation that situates Western non-dualism within a broader framework of intellectual history.