A Picture of a Cat against Cholera? Rationality in History as Seen from a Universalist Perspective

Abstract

This essay has two purposes. One is to present a detailed analysis of a historical example to defend the validity of the idea of universal rationality. Although diverse arguments have been offered by philosophers in support of the universal character of rationality, there are only a few in-depth discussions of concrete historical examples. So, the historical analysis presented here will supplement the existing theoretical arguments for universal rationality. The other purpose is to reveal the nature of the relationship between universal rationality and Orientalism. It will be argued that Orientalism has been grounded not in the idea of universal rationality per se, but in linking universal rationality with truth by way of practical success. Orientalism was founded upon a kind of certainty about rationality's truth-conduciveness that could be obtained only by defeating skepticism; however, that certainty, I will argue, is unwarranted. Therefore, as far as rationality is concerned, the problem with Orientalism is not that Europeans treated something local as universal but that they conferred upon universals an unwarranted certainty.