A Comparative History of World Philosophy: From the Upanishads to Kant [Paperback]

Ben-Ami Scharfstein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 27, 1998

A Comparative History of World Philosophy presents a personal yet balanced guide through what the author argues to be the three great philosophical traditions: Chinese, European, and Indian. The book breaks through the cultural barriers between these traditions, proving that despite their considerable differences, fundamental resemblances exist in their abstract principles. Ben-Ami Scharfstein argues that Western students of philosophy will profit considerably if they study Indian and Chinese philosophy from the very beginning, along with their own. Written with clarity and infused with an engaging narrative voice, this book is organized thematically, presenting in virtually every chapter characteristic views from each tradition that represent similar positions in the core areas of metaphysics and epistemology. At the same time, Scharfstein develops each tradition historically as the chapters unfold. He presents a great variety of philosophical positions fairly, avoiding the relativism and ethnocentrism that could easily plague a comparative presentation of Western and non-Western philosophies.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This is the second work published in recent months that offers a comparison of Western philosophical tradition to those not Western in origin (see A Companion To World Philosophies, LJ 2/15/98). Unlike the latter work, however, which included African and Polynesian philosophy, Scharfstein's concentrates on Chinese, European, and Indian philosophy, perhaps because these three account for a majority of the world's cultures. Scharfstein (Tel Aviv Univ.) argues, quite correctly, that those who study Western philosophy can benefit greatly from a similar study of Indian and Chinese philosophical traditions. To this end, his book is divided into 12 thematic chapters, in which he examines each theme as it has developed in the three traditions, noting the parallels and divergences of each. Scharfstein has done a very thorough job of examining the three traditions, and unless a more comprehensive comparative history appears in the near future, this book should become a major resource for those engaged in comparative studies.ATerry C. Skeats, Bishop's Univ. Lib., Lennoxville, Quebec
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Author

During the years when I was writing A Comparative History of World Philosophy I was, first, educating myself and, second, carrying on a dialogue with a possible reader. Though alive only in my imagination, this reader was very real to me. I felt that I had to satisfy both of us. But because my voice was that of one human being talking to another, I could not write in the wooden, impersonal style of so many textbooks and encyclopedias. And because the philosophers, the subjects of the conversation, were so different from both of us and from one another, each of them had to have had to be shown to have an individual array of arguments put in an unmistakably individual style. Attentive to the cultural boundaries that were being crossed, my real imaginary reader kept asking me, "How can I be sure that you've got this argument right?" I had to confess now and then that I was not quite sure, and I always obliged myself to give references so that the reader could check my sources and judge independently. It was also crucial to me to organize the history so as to make comparisons easier, more natural, and more exact. I won't go through the difficulties that stand in the way of a plausible comparative history, or repeat the rewarding discoveries that I made, for myself and my reader. Of course, such a history faces stubborn old problems. How many identifiable philosophical cultures have there been? Has philosophy been essential to human culture? Has it in any way made general progress? Is the conception of philosophy basically the same in the different philosophical traditions; and what, in this context, can "basically the same" mean? Are Eastern philosophies as a whole different from those of the West? Has one philosophical culture been superior, in particular or in general to another? I've dealt with such problems carefully and, I hope, reasonably. Considering their age, importance, and difficulty, they deserve to be answered with careful respect. It's been and remains a great adventure!

Ben-Ami Scharfstein

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Product Details

• Paperback: 702 pages
• Publisher: State University of New York Press (February 27, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0791436845
• ISBN-13: 978-0791436844
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,289,294 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #80 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Bible & Other Sacred Texts > Upanishads

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An insightful and rich account, beautifully written, July 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Comparative History of World Philosophy: From the Upanishads to Kant (Paperback)

This is a truly remarkable presentation of an unusual perspective of the history of philosophy, one that most writers are so conveniently ignorant of. Scharfstein proceeds under the premise that the accepted Western paradigm of reading the history of philosophy within the boundaries of a single tradition can simply be replaced by a comparative tripartite paradigm with an equal claim for authenticity. The effect is strikingly similar to changing lenses in a camera, from zoom to wide-angle: some features are inevitably lost, but so much more can now be seen. Contrary to what we usually find in the bulk of contemporary works in the history of philosophy, Scharfstein is ultimately concerned with understanding the all-too-human activity of philosophizing. As he so beautifully puts it, the philosopher can-or perhaps, should-be seen as an artist, whose medium is abstract thought. Here the historian and the philosopher converge, but in a way very different from the cases of Hegel or Heidegger, for example. Scharfstein shows how to engage in the history of philosophy without being parasitic on philosophy, on the one hand, but also without being overly manipulative, on the other. The book hovers, so to speak, over its subject-matter, posing historical and philosophical questions, and then trying to answer them in the author's own voice, with a kind of mixture of sympathetic attention and mature intellectual detachedness that is commonly reserved only to the expert anthropologist. This is clearly one of the most remarkable characteristics, and perhaps one of the greatest achievements of this book. Scharfstein's discussion is expansive yet rich, clear-headed, insightful and fully aware of the historian's responsibility for accuracy while never losing sight of the philosopher's quest for truth or of the artist's quest for creation. It is also written in the kind of beautiful prose that has become so rare in contemporary scholarly writing. I strongly believe that many instructors would find this book very useful in intro classes in philosophy as well as in the humanities in general. The neat and elegant summaries that Scharfstein produced for each philosopher he discusses are inevitably incomplete and cannot replace-nor were they ever meant to replace-a careful reading of the philosophical texts. But to the best of my knowledge, none of the available historical texts can do that particular trick. Those of you who are willing to overcome the academically entrenched philosophical xenophobia, and to admit Chuang-tzu, Nagarjuna, and Vasubandhu, among others, in their classes alongside with stalwart texts of the European tradition, would find that Scharfstein's history enhances and enriches any reading of these texts with a rewardingly broad philosophical and cultural context that may prompt fruitful discussions of that great human adventure called philosophy.

13 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Book covers full range of world philosophy, February 3, 2000

By 

Roderick T. Long (Auburn, AL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Comparative History of World Philosophy: From the Upanishads to Kant (Paperback)

This is a truly excellent work, and I want to defend it againstthe charge of leaving out African philosophy. One can truthfully say,without any disservice to the impressive achievements of African culture, that there is no distinctively African tradition in philosophy, just as there is no distinctively African tradition in chemistry. Philosophy is an art that developed in certain cultures and not others: the Chinese but not the Japanese; the Indians but not the Persians; the Greeks but not the Africans, the Romans, the Germans, or the Celts -- though those cultures that did not develop philosophy made other achievements in other areas. Even if the contention of _Black Athena_ were correct that "western civilization has its roots in Africa" (and that book has been pretty much discredited -- see _Black Athena Revisited_, though I think that book overstates its case in the opposite direction), it would not follow that Africans were responsible for philosophy any more than they were responsible for chemistry. The _Comparative History of World Philosophy_ focuses its attention where it belongs: on the three, and only three, cultures that developed philosophy. Every culture has world views, a wisdom tradition, etc., but philosophy is more than that; it is a specific art of argumentation that emerged in specific places in history. END

3 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The text is good but not fully representative of world phi, February 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Comparative History of World Philosophy: From the Upanishads to Kant (Paperback)

A Comparative History of world philosophy is a tour de force in the presentation of world philosophy. The text goes beyond the usual depiction of Western philosophy as the main and only available philosophy in the world. However, A Comparative History of World Philosophy, in its attempt to overcome the marginalizing exposition of the West, erases or African philosophy from world philosophy. I do not want to raise the bete noire of philosophical discussion here, that is, the authenticity of African philosophy. If there is any philosophy at all, there must be African philosophy; and if there is a text on world philosophy, that text must contain a section on African Philosophy. As the author may very well know (see Black Athena), western civilization has its roots in Africa. I have made this remarks that the author may reconsider his exposition in the next edition of the text because he/she will actually help professors who want to teach world philosophy with a more global bent than the Eastern and Western.