Customer Reviews

Great Thinkers of the Eastern World: The Major Thinkers and the Philosophical and Religious Classics of China, India, Japan, Korea, and the World of Islam

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This book in collaboration with Great Thinkers of the Western World creates a concise reference source for any intellectual. Consisting of rougly 100 religious and philosophical thinkers and works this book is worth owning, not renting. The book is well organized according to chronology and country so that the reader can trace the development of ideas from 600 B.C. through the 20th century. In addition, the articles on people provide basic information, list major works, and summarize principle ideas. Each entry contains a well written bibliography which makes one feel he or she is listening to that thinker express his or her most poignant beliefs. Furthermore, articles on texts list authors and dates of composition, and summarize the main ideas. Works form the I Ching to the Upanishads bring the reader in touch with the practical way of life and how it has evolved over the centuries. Of the many attemps to teach the history of philosophy I have found this book to be the most reliable. Overall, there is very little filler just the facts presented in an easy to understand manner which makes this book ideal for any amateur yet strong enough to guide the most astute reader.

This book presents informative essays on over 100 of the outstanding philosophical and religious thinkers of China, India, Japan, Korea and the world of Islam. Each article in this book summarizes and discusses the central ideas of outstanding Eastern thinker. Each essay begins with pertinent biographical information, a listing of the thinker's major works and a summary statement of the thinker's major ideas. In most cases the work of a particular author is related to the cultural context in which he or she wrote and the ideas are seen to come out of and to lead into the ideas of other great seminal thinkers. The Western intellectual tradition has been most successful in its study and use of scientific and pragmatic thinking, but for centuries it preoccupied itself excessively with theological and metaphysical speculations. On the other hand, the eastern tradition is refreshing in that it is predominantly and forthrightly ethical without purporting to prove what is a matter of commitment and tested cultural practice, and its fundamental message -often appropriately expressed in poetic language-is that one will manage best in this life if one disciplines oneself to go with the tao, that is, to be in harmony with the universe as it is and, accordingly in harmony with one's fellow human beings.

Wonderful addition to any bibliophiles wish list for "must have"! Origins of ideas from the Eastern perspective, an often neglected point of view. Useful to determine world views not referenced to Classical Greece and its' systems of formal logic. Necessary for the scholar to understand alternative cultural counter points from other ancient civilizations. An absolute joy to read and study.

The entire book lists only one female thinker, Rabia. I realize that the traditions discussed do tend to be sexist and not record most of their female thinkers, but the writer could have tried a little harder to find at least a few female thinkers to include.