The article highlights the religion’s influence on national and regional cultures, and on philosophy, in particular. The author discusses methodological possibilities of viewing Austrian culture as a representation and a result of the regional history, whereas Austrian philosophy could be understood as the culmination of regional selfconsciousness. In this regard, Catholicism lies in the foundation of the Austrian philosophical culture and helps to account for the rejection of German Idealism as well as for Austrian perception of German Romanticism.