World Philosophies - Hardcover

Smart, Ninian

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0415184665 ISBN 13: 9780415184663

Publisher: Routledge, 1998

Synopsis

This is a collection of stories of philosophy and religion from around the world. The author discusses figures such as: Plato and Kierkega ard in the West; the Buddha and Mao Zedong in Asia; temples and Knibanga in Africa; and Rodo and Royce in America. It also includes ideas such as: Indian ideas of testimony and evidence; Chinese notions of moral development; Buddhist concepts of cosmology; and Latin American critiques of materialism.

About this title

Review

"In a work of amazing breadth and cogency, the acknowledged master of the study of world civilization leads us through the philosophies that have guided some corners of humanity and today lay claim to a hearing everywhere. Ninian Smart has studied languages and histories, philosophies and literatures, east and west, north and south, and with panache and verve he introduces in a profound way worlds that, before our time have rarely collided. This is a masterpiece of lucid description, analysis, and interpretation of the ways people have made sense of things - choices that today face us all."
-Jacob Neusner, University of South Florida and Bard College
"Ninian Smart is one of the few public religious intellectuals who can be compared to the late Joseph Campbell."
-"Library Journal
"I thought this was an excellent book. All the chapters are both interesting and of an equally high standard. There is a lot of interest in nowadays, especially in the US, in world philosophy...Ninian Smart is one of the best writers on the topic working today."
-Oliver Leaman, Liverpool John Moores University
"Ninian Smart has once again brought his considerable skills--philosophy, phenomenology of religion, cross-cultural comparisons, and theology--to bear on a much needed compendium on philosophies of the world. And all the more urgent as we move towards a fecundation of global civilizations. It indeed is a garland 'woven out of the differing flowers of many traditions'
."
-Purushottama Bilimoria, Editor of "Sophia
"As a work of reference, this will be invaluable. Smart's analysis of such crucial thinkers as Buddha, Confucius, Descartes and Derrida is impeccable."
-The Times

About the Author

Ninian Smart (1927 - 2001) was Emeritus Professor of Comparative Religion and of Religious Studies at the Universites of California and Lancaster.  He was recognised as one of the world's foremost scholars in religious studies and was President of the American Academy of Religion for the year 2000.  He authored many acclaimed books, including The Religious Experience, Dimensions of the Sacred and The World's Religions. 

Oliver Leaman is Zanker Professor of Judaic Studies and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Kentucky.  He has written and edited numerous books, including Key Concepts in Eastern Philosphy (Routledge, 1999) and the Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy (2001).

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0415184665
• ISBN 13: 9780415184663
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 454