World Philosophy: A Text with Readings

By necessity this book has to take a broad brush through the World's Philosophies. For example in Western Philosophy, Karl Marx gets one paragraph. This book should not be thought of a history or catalog of philosophers, but rather as a sampling from different cultures. A different author writes each of the 7 chapters, but most contain a glossary, further reading, and thought provoking study questions. I thought the chapter on American Indian Philosophy by J. Baird Callicot and Thomas Overholt was enlightening with selections from Ojibwa and Lakota. The thought that an ancient American crisis after the extinction of the megafauna, precipitating the American Indian environmental ethic was a new idea to me. At times the distinction between philosophy and religion was a little blurred. There was little discussion of uniquely Islamic or Jewish philosophy (despite a paragraph on Maimonides). The focus of each chapter depended upon the author, so the Japanese Philosophy focused on Zen, while perhaps the other Buddhist philosophies are short changed. I used this book of readings as a good accompaniment to Dr. Higgins teaching company audiotape of World Philosophy.