Enlightenment categories existed in the East but served different ends

Evidence

Many Orientalists, however, developed images of Muslim and Arab peoples that either perpetuated medieval stereotypes or else reflected more contemporary assumptions, bolstered at times by appeals to science, about the intrinsic cultural and even racial superiority of Europeans over Muslims. An example of the latter type of thinking can be found in the work of Ernest Renan, a French philologist and scholar of religion. In many ways, he represented the growing tendency in much of nineteenth-century Orientalism to move away from Enlightenment universalism, which tended to stress commonalities between all human beings (including Muslims), and toward a worldview that emphasized the fundamental differences between civilizations, with Western civilization seen as inherently superior to Islamic civilization. — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 193 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Ottoman decline freed orientalism to aid Enlightenment anti-Christian universalism — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 111; The Enlightenment holds a shared substrate despite its internal diversity — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism: A Critique of…, 71; Nineteenth-century Orientalism traded Enlightenment universalism for a hierarchy of civilizations. — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 193

Broader Connections

• Nineteenth-century Orientalism traded Enlightenment universalism for a hierarchy of civilizations. #complicates (0.75) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 193