Kurzbeschreibung: Deutsch, Introduction to world philosophies

Eliot Deutsch, einer der wichtigsten Philosophen im Feld der Comparative Philosophy in den USA, der nicht nur wiederholt die großen East-West-Philosophers Conferences in Hawai’i an der Universität Honolulu organisiert hat, sondern selbst auch Indologe ist, hat im Jahr 1997 zudem eine Textsammlung unter dem Titel Introduction to world philosophies herausgegeben, die als ein Parallelwerk zu dem zuvor genannten Buch gelesen werden kann. In dem Band sind Texte aus verschiedenen Traditionen in englischer Übersetzung jeweils unter bestimmten Themen zusammengestellt worden. 

“This Introduction to World Philosophies is dedicated to the idea that philosophy is not the exclusive province of the West, and that indeed other traditions-notably the Asian ones we will be exploring-have a depth, range, and distinctive character that need to be recognized if for no other reason than to enrich considerably our own philosophical background and to enable us to understand better our own tradition. One could, of course, appeal to the fact that since we live in a global society with a highly interdependent economy, and since many nations, including most conspicuously the United States, are rapidly becoming multicultural, to survive well in such a situation we need to know a great deal about different world traditions. The appeal I would make here, however, is a straightforward philosophical one: we can think better and more creatively in philosophy when we understand and appreciate the rich and diverse ways in which basic issues have been dealt with, identified, and defined in different cultures.

This introductory text does not deal with all of the philosophical traditions in the world. It should, however, be obvious that no excuse need be given for this lack of comprehensiveness in a single work.

The book is divided into five parts. I have not designated all of them explicitly in terms of the usual branches of philosophy, although the readings quite obviously fall respectively within the areas of philosophical anthropology, ethics and political philosophy, epistemology, metaphysics, and philosophy of religion.” (Introduction to world philosophies. Hg. v. Eliot Deutsch. New Jersey 1997, S. XI.)

Die thematischen Überschriften, unter denen die Texte aus verschiedenen Traditionen versammelt sind, lauten wie folgt: 1. Who Am I?, 2. What is the Aim of Life? How to Be Ethically, How to Be Politically, 3. What Do I Know? What Is Truth?, 4. What Is Reality?, 5. What Is Religious Experience? Does God Exist? Why Is There Evil?. Anhand dieser Zusammenstellung, die bewusst konzipiert ist für thematische Seminare, können verschiedene Themen in globaler Perspektive behandelt und diskutiert werden. 

(Auszug aus: Elberfeld, Rolf: Philosophiegeschichtsschreibung in globaler Perspektive. Felix Meiner Verlag: Hamburg 2017, S. 311)