Orientalist science functions as an ego-driven fiction of European dominion.

Evidence

Lastly, Semitic was Renan’s first creation, a fiction invented by him in the philological laboratory to satisfy his sense of public place and mission. It should by no means be lost on us that Semitic was for Renan’s ego the symbol of European (and consequently his) dominion over the Orient and over his own era. — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 368

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the colonial psychology and racialized selfhood strand of the reader’s Foundations Module 2 — the scholar’s identity invested in mastery over the Other.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 368