Comparative religion, taxonomies and 19th century philosophies of science : Chantepie de la Saussaye and Tiele

It has been generally recognized that an important influence on the development of early phenomenologies of religion was Hegel. It is the purpose of this paper to provide a deep reading of the phenomenologies of C.P. Tiele and P.D. Chantepie de la Saussaye in order to demonstrate the extent of Hegel's influence on their thought. This demonstration proceeds deconstructively (in the Heideggerian, not the Derridean, sense) to establish (a) the questionability of each thinker's claim to represent a unitary science of religion and to show (b) the oppositions between the respective notions of taxonomy and the notions of science of religion. The paper concludes by suggesting that although both thinkers may have appropriated some Hegelian evolutionary elements, their respective conceptions of science were also influenced by the received view that lay behind the writings of scientific phenomenologists such as Robison, Hamilton and Whewell.