A Companion to World Philosophies

by Deutsch, Eliot; Bontekoe, Ron

• ISBN13: 9780631213277
• ISBN10: 0631213279
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1991-01-16
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

Written by an international assembly of leading philosophers, this volume offers students, teachers and general readers a rich and sophisticated introduction to the major non-Western philosophical traditions - particularly Chinese, Indian, Buddhist and Islamic philosophies. African and Polynesian thinking are also covered by way of historical and contemporary survey articles.The text is organized around a series of central topics concerning conceptions of reality and divinity, of causality, of truth, of the nature of rationality, of selfhood, of humankind and nature, of the good, of aesthetic values, and of social and political ideals. Outstanding scholars present essays that articulate the distinctive ways in which these specific problems have been formulated and addressed in the non-Western traditions against the background of their varied historical and cultural presuppositions.

Author Biography

Eliot Deutsch is past editor (1967-1987) of the international journal Philosophy East and West, Director of the Sixth East-West Philosophers' Conference, and a past president of the Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy. He is the author of twelve books, including: On Truth; Personhood, Creativity and Freedom; Studies in Comparative Aesthetics; Religion and Spirituality; Essays on the Nature of Art; and many articles and reviews in professional journals.

Ron Bontekoe received his PhD from the University of Toronto. He is author of Dimensions of the Hermenetic Circle (1996) and co-editor of Justice and Democracy.

Table of Contents

List of contributors	ix
Preface	xii
Guide to pronunciation	xv
PART I: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Chinese philosophy: a synoptic view	3	(21)
Tu Weiming
A history of Indian philosophy	24	(25)
J. N. Mohanty
Classical Polynesian thinking	49	(14)
John Charlot
African philosophy: a historical overview	63	(15)
D. A. Masolo
A survey of Buddhist thought	78	(21)
Ninian Smart
Islamic philosophy: an overview	99	(40)
Tamara Albertini
PART II: PHILOSOPHICAL TOPICS
The Chinese tradition
Ideas of the good in chinese philosophy	139	(9)
Shun Kwong-Loi
The Chinese conception of selfhood	148	(7)
Roger T. Ames
Human beings and nature in traditional Chinese thought	155	(10)
P. J. Ivanhoe
Causation in Chinese philosophy	165	(9)
Carine Defoort
Chinese socio-political ideals	174	(11)
Henry Rosemont
Reality and Divinity in Chinese philosophy	185	(16)
Chung-Ying Cheng
Reason and principle in Chinese philosophy: an interpretation of li	201	(13)
A. S. Cua
The way and the truth	214	(11)
David L. Hall
Chinese aesthetics	225	(12)
Stephen J. Goldberg
The Indian tradition
Socio-political thought in classical India	237	(11)
Daya Krishna
Indian conceptions of reality and divinity	248	(11)
Gerald James Larson
Rationality in Indian philosophy	259	(20)
Arindam Chakrabarti
Humankind and nature in Indian philosophy	279	(11)
John M. Koller
The idea of the good in Indian thought	290	(14)
J. N. Mohanty
Indian aesthetics: a philosophical survey	304	(20)
Edwin Gerow
The self and person in Indian philosophy	324	(10)
Stephen H. Phillips
Truth in Indian philosophy	334	(15)
Amita Chatterjee
The Buddhist tradition
Ideas of the good in Buddhist philosophy	349	(11)
P. D. Premasiri
Reflections on social and political ideals in Buddhist philosophy	360	(10)
John Ross Carter
Causality in Buddhist philosophy	370	(11)
G. C. Pande
Humankind and nature in Buddhism	381	(11)
Knut A. Jacobsen
Buddhist reality and divinity	392	(8)
Kenneth K. Inada
The Buddhist concept of self	400	(10)
Thomas P. Kasulis
Rationality in Buddhist thought	410	(10)
David Bastow
Buddhist perspectives on ontological truth	420	(17)
Matthew Kapstein
The Islamic tradition
Truth and Islamic thought	437	(11)
Andrey Smirnov
Islamic aesthetics	448	(12)
Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Reality and divinity in Islamic philosophy	460	(12)
Josep Puig Montada
Selfhood/personhood in Islamic philosophy	472	(12)
John Walbridge
The concept of the good in Islamic philosophy	484	(9)
Mourad Wahba
Causality and Islamic thought	493	(11)
Andrey Smirnov
Rationality in Islamic philosophy	504	(13)
Majid Fakhry
PART III: THE CONTEMPORARY SITUATION
Contemporary Chinese philosophy	517	(6)
Roger T. Ames
Contemporary Japanese philosophy	523	(8)
Shigenori Nagatomo
The contemporary Indian situation	531	(11)
Bina Gupta
Contemporary Polynesian thinking	542	(6)
John Charlot
Current trends and perspectives in African philosophy	548	(16)
Segun Gbadegesin
Contemporary Buddhist philosophy	564	(9)
Michiko Yusa
Contemporary Islamic thought	573	(8)
Marietta Stepaniants
Index	581