Unde lux ? Ex Oriente ? Ex Occidente ? Trois expansions de notre univers de connaissances

After surveying the series of discoveries between 1770 and 1835 that revealed the oriental religions, the article compares the impact in Germany with that in France of this increase in knowledge. East of the Rhine, the impact was profound and affected religious history; scholars studied primarily the sacred texts. West of the Rhine, the impact was rather literary. It was the 16th century discoveries of the native American civilizations that had a profound impact in France, since they started a contrast between natural man and civilised man. Rather than encouraging philology, this increase in knowledge gave birth to ethnological curiosity. The article closes with remarks on heterology.