First Published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The Jewish Philosophy Reader is the first comprehensive anthology of classic writings on Jewish philosophy from the Bible to the present. Complementing the History of Jewish Philosophy, the Reader is divided into four parts:
* Foundations and First Principles
* Medieval and Renaissance Jewish Philosophy
* Modern Jewish Thought
* Contemporary Jewish philosophy

eBook available with sample pages: PB:0415168600

The Companion Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy is a unique one-volume reference work which makes a broad range of richly varied philosophical, ethical and theological traditions accessible to a wide audience.
The Companion is divided into 6 sections, each of which covers a specific tradition within Asian Philosophy including Persian, Indian, Buddhist, Chinese, Japanese and Islamic. Within each section the chapters cover such important areas as origins of the tradition, approaches to logic and languages, positions on morals and society as well as histories of the lives of influential thinkers. In addition, the final chapter of each section provides unique coverage of current trends in that particular philosophical tradition. each.
Key features
* Collaboration between internationally renowned Asian and Western scholars provides unique perspectives on Asian philosophy
* Contains comprehensive bibliographies and suggestions for further reading
The Companion is a crucial reference tool for students and scholars working in a very broad range of fields including philosophy, theology and a variety of area studies, including Asian, Indian and Middle Eastern studies, as well as being a valuable resource for anyone with an interest in any of the traditions covered.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203013506

Liang Shu-ming (October 18, 1893 - June 23, 1988), was a legendary philosopher, teacher, and leader in the Rural Reconstruction Movement in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republican eras of Chinese history. Liang was also one of the early representatives of modern Neo-Confucianism. Guy S. Alitto, associate Professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations (EALC) at The University of Chicago, is author of, among other things, The Last Confucian: Liang Shu-ming and the Chinese Dilemma of Modernity, and is one of the most active and influential Sinologists in America. In 1980 and again in 1984, at Liang Shu-ming's invitation, he conducted a series of interviews with Liang in Liang's Beijing home. This book of dialogues between the American sinologist and "The Last Confucian", Liang Shu-ming, gives a chronological account of the conversations that took place in Beijing in 1980. In these conversations, they discussed the cultural characteristics of Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, and their representative figures, and reviewed the important activities of Mr. Liang's life, along with Liang's reflection on his contact with many famous people in the cultural and political realms - Li Dazhao, Chen Duxiu, Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Chiang Kai-shek, Kang Youwei, Hu Shi, etc. Rich in content, these conversations serve as important reference material for understanding and studying Mr. Liang Shuming's thoughts and activities as well as the social and historical events of modern China.

This book examines the paradoxical structure of Yijing known as the Book of Changes-a structure that promotes in a non-hierarchical way the harmony and transformation of opposites. Because the non-hierarchical model is not limited to the East Asian tradition, it will be considered in relation to ideas developed in the West, including Carl Jung's archetypal psychology, Georg Cantor's Diagonal Theorem, Rene Girard's mimetic desire, and Alfred North Whitehead's process thought. By critically reviewing the numerical and symbolic structures of Yijing, the author introduces Kim Ilbu's Jeongyeok (The Book of Right Changes) and demonstrates that he intensifies the correlation between opposites to overcome any hierarchical system implied by the Yijing. Both the Yijing and the Jeongyeok are textual sources for kindling a discussion about the Divine conceived in Eastern and Western philosophical-theological traditions quite differently. While the non-theistic aspects of the Ultimate feature prominently in Yijing, Jeongyeok extends them to a theistic issue by bringing the notion of Sangjae, the Supreme Lord, which can lead to a fruitful dialogue for understanding the dipolar characteristics of the divine reality-personal and impersonal. The author considers their contrast that has divided Eastern and Western religious belief systems, to be transformational and open to a wider perspective of the divine conception in the process of change.

This encyclopedia is a unique one-volume reference work which makes a broad range of richly varied philosophical, ethical and theological traditions accessible to a wide audience. TheCompanion Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophyis a unique one-volume reference work which will make a broad range of richly varied philosophical, ethical and theological traditions accessible to a wide audience. TheEncyclopediais divided into 6 sections, each of which covers a specific tradition within Asian philosophy includingZoroastrianorPersian, Indian, Buddhist, Chinese, Japane seandIslamic. Within each section the chapters cover such important areas as origins of the tradition, approaches to logic and language, positions on morals and society as well as histories of the lives of influential thinkers. In addition, the final chapter of each section provides unique coverage of current trends in each. The individual essays as well as the structure of this volume allow the reader to compare and contrast the philosophies of these cultures as well as understand the ways in which the cultures have shapedand been shaped by philosophical understanding. It is possible, for example, to relate the ways in which Buddhist philosophy has developed in India, Tibet, China, South-East Asia and Japan. 'This massive reference work is perhaps the best one-volume companion to the study of Asian philosophies.' - Choice 'The best use of this work ... would be to read it from cover to cover, to provide a superb education in Asian philosophy.' - Times Higher Edication Supplement 'Fascinating and enlightening.' - Reference Reviews An unique one-volume reference work which makes a broad range of richly varied Asian philosophical, ethical and theological traditions accessible to a wide audience. The Companion Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy is a unique one-volume reference work which makes a broad range of richly varied philosophical, ethical and theological traditions accessible to a

This volume combines philosophy, the social theory of knowledge, and historical analysis to present a comprehensive study of the idea of certainty as defined in the Western and Chinese intellectual traditions. Philosophical ideas such as certainty are the products of deeply layered socio-historical constructions. The author shows how the highly abstract idea of certainty in philosophical discourse is connected to the concrete social process from which the meaning of certainty is derived. Three different versions of certainty--in modern Western thought, in German Idealism, and in traditional Chinese philosophy--are examined in the context of a historical-comparative study of Western and Chinese social processes.

Three versions of the idea of certainty are represented by the three distinct philosophical discourse and societies explored in this book. However, the pursuit of certainty transcends culture as a fundamental aspect of philosophical thought. This in-depth study shows how the social genesis and function in philosophy of the specific meaning of certainty has been delineated through a process of complex idealogical negotiation by dominant social groups--the bourgeoisie in modern Western Europe, the nobility and state bureaucrats in 18th- and 19th-century Germany, and the landed gentry in traditional China. The author concludes by suggesting new avenues for study inspired by his research.

Islamic philosophy has often been treated as mainly of historical interest, belonging to the history of ideas rather than to philosophy. This volume challenges this belief, and provides an indispensable reference tool. It includes:
* Detailed discussions of the most important figures from earliest times to the present day
* Chapters on key concepts in Islamic philosophy, and on relevant traditions in Greek and western philosophy
* Contributions by 50 leading experts in the field, from over 16 countries
* Analysis of a vast geographical area with discussions of Arabic, Persian, Indian, Jewish, Turkish and South East Asian philosophy
* Comprehensive bibliographical information and an extensive index
Seyyed Hossein Nasr is Professor of Islamic Studies at the George Washington University, Washington D.C. He has held academic positions across the United States, as well as in Beirut and Tehran. He has written extensively on many aspects of Islamic philosophy; his work has been translated into over 20 languages. Oliver Leaman is a Reader in Philosophy at Liverpool's John Moores University and has published widely on Islamic philosophy and the philosophy of religion.

Geoffrey Lloyd engages in a wide-ranging exploration of what we can learn from the study of ancient civilisations that is relevant to fundamental problems, both intellectual and moral, that we still face today. How far is it possible to arrive at an understanding of alien systems of belief? Is it possible to talk meaningfully of 'science' and of its various constituent disciplines, 'astronomy', 'geography', 'anatomy', and so on, in the ancient world? Are logic and its laws universal? Is there one ontology - a single world - to which all attempts at understanding must be considered to be directed? When we encounter apparently very different views of reality, how far can that be put down to a difference in conceptions of what needs explaining, or of what counts as an explanation, or to different preferred modes of reasoning or styles of inquiry? Do the notions of truth and belief represent reliable cross-cultural universals? In another area, what can ancient history teach us about today's social and political problems? Are the discourses of human nature and of human rights universally applicable? What political institutions do we need to help secure equity and justice within nation states and between them? Lloyd sets out to answer all these questions, and to convince us that the science and culture of ancient Greece and China provide precious resources to advance modern debates.

Justice and harmony have long been two of the world's most treasured ideals, but much of modern moral and political philosophy puts them on opposite sides of the divide between liberal theories of the right and communitarian theories of the good. Joshua Mason argues that the encounter with their Chinese counterparts, zhengyi and hexie, can overcome this opposition, revealing a pattern of interrelated concerns that reframes justice and harmony as mutually interdependent concepts in a three-part framework of root harmony (benhe), harmonic justice (heyi), and just harmony (zhenghe). Broadly surveying the histories of western and Chinese moral and political philosophies and taking on the insights of philosophical hermeneutics, Justice and Harmony: Cross-Cultural Ideals in Conflict and Cooperation explores our cross-cultural conceptual inventories and develops a comparative framework that can overcome entrenched binary oppositions and reconcile these grand global values.

"Thirty-Five Oriental Philosophers" provides an introduction to the philosophical traditions known as oriental. Despite the growing interest in eastern thought in the West, this is the only volume to provide a comprehensive overview of the entire spectrum of oriental philosophy in an accessible format.
This major reference work provides a close analysis of the key works of central figures in the traditions of Zoroastrianism, Islam, India, Tibet, China, and Japan, ranging from earliest times to the present day. The book is composed of essays on individual philosophers which outline the central themes of their thought, list their major works, and provide suggestions for further reading.
Each major section is prefaced by a short sub-introduction which places the philosopher into the appropriate tradition and indicates how the various traditions have interacted over time. Areas which have a high profile in the West, such as Islam and Zen, receive extended treatment. Philosophical difficulties associated with each position are discussed, and references to parallel ideas in the Western philosophical tradition are indicated as they occur. A glossary of key philosophical terms is also provided.

More than any other topic, prophecy represents the point at which the Divine meets the human, the Absolute meets the relative. How can a human being attain the Word of God? In what manner does God, when conceived as eternal and transcendent, address corporeal, transitory creatures? What happens to God's divine Truth when it is beheld by minds limited in their power to apprehend, and influenced by the intellectual currents of their time and place? How were these issues viewed by the great Jewish philosophers of the past, who took the divine communication and all it entails seriously, while at the same time desired to understand it as much as humanly possible in the course of dealing with a myriad of other issues that occupied their attention? This book offers an in-depth study of prophecy in the thought of seven of the leading medieval Jewish philosophers: R. Saadiah Gaon, R. Judah Halevi, Maimonides, Gersonides, R. Hasdai Crescas, R. Joseph Albo and Baruch Spinoza. It attempts to capture the original voice' of these thinkers by looking at the intellectual milieus in which they developed their philosophies, and by carefully analyzing their views in their textual contexts. It also deals with the relation between the earlier approaches and the later ones. Overall, this book presents a significant model for narrating the history of an idea.

This volume surveys the major philosophical concepts, arguments, and commitments of the Confucian classic," " the" Analects." In thematically organized chapters, leading scholars provide a detailed, scholarly introduction to the text and the signal ideas ascribed to its protagonist, Confucius.

The volume opens with chapters that reflect the latest scholarship on the disputed origins of the text and an overview of the broad commentarial tradition it generated. These are followed by chapters that individually explore key areas of the text s philosophical landscape, articulating both the sense of concepts such as "ren," "li," and "xiao" as well as their place in the wider space of the text. A final section addresses prominent interpretive challenges and scholarly disputes in reading the "Analects," evaluating, for example, the alignment between the "Analects" and contemporary moral theory and the contested nature of its religious sensibility.

"Dao Companion to the "Analects offers a comprehensive and complete survey of the text's philosophical idiom and themes, as well as its history and some of the liveliest current debates surrounding it. This book is an ideal resource for both researchers and advanced students interested in gaining greater insight into one of the earliest and most influential Confucian classics."""

The term Yao refers to a non-sinitic speaking, southern "Chinese" people who originated in central China, south of the Yangzi River. Despite categorization by Chinese and Western scholars of Yao as an ethnic minority with a primitive culture, it is now recognized that not only are certain strains of religious Daoism prominent in Yao ritual traditions, but the Yao culture also shares many elements with pre-modern official and mainstream Chinese culture. This book is the first to furnish a history-part cultural, part political, and part religious-of contacts between the Chinese state and autochthonous peoples (identified since the 11th century as Yao people) in what is now South China. It vividly details the influence of Daoism on the rich history and culture of the Yao people. The book also includes an examination of the specific terminology, narratives, and symbols (Daoist/ imperial) that represent and mediate these contacts. "This is an important piece of work on a little studied, but very interesting subject, namely, Taoism among the non-Sinitic peoples of South China and adjoining areas." - Professor Victor Mair, University of Pennsylvania "This brilliant study by Eli Alberts has now cleared away much of the cloud that has been caused by previous, mostly impressionistic scholarship on the "Dao of the Yao." - Professor Barend J.ter Haar, Leiden University