Frithjof Schuon: The Shining Realm of the Pure Intellect

by Fabbri, Renaud

This thesis provides an intellectual biography of the Perennialist philosopher and Sufi Shaykh Frithjof Schuon (1907-1998). I have argued that Schuon’s message is best understood as an autonomous path of knowledge (jnana-marga), ritually based on Islam but centered on the Religio Perennis. I have also compared and contrasted it to certain metaphysical doctrines and contemplative disciplines of the Hindu monastic traditions (Advaita Vedanta, Vishishtadvaita Vedanta, Samkhya-yoga, Kashmiri Shaivism, etc…) and certain Gnostic schools of Sufism (wahdat al-wujud, Shadhili ritual practice, etc…), to none of which can it be reduced in the last instance.