Philosophy east and west (Read Books)

Philosophy East and IVest EDITED aby CHARLES A. MOORE PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS 1946 TO GREGG M. SINCLAIR President of the University of Hawaii and ardent believer in the significance of the East for the West. His enthusiasm has created in all who have met him a lasting interest in the Orient. It was he who inspired the East-West Philosophers 9 Conference at which this vol ume had its inception, and who, through his encouragement and assistance, aided materi ally in its preparation and publication. Preface 1 HIS volume presents the results of the East-West Philosophers Conference held at the University of Hawaii during the summer of 1939. At this conference, representatives of Orient and Occident were brought together to investigate, through the mediums of per sonal contact, discussion, and formal papers, the meaning and sig nificance of the basic attitudes of these two major traditions. The conference was particularly concerned with the significance of the philosophy of the East for the West. The underlying purpose was to determine the possibility of a world philosophy through a syn thesis of the ideas and ideals of East and West, and to reach con clusions in the form of specific suggestions concerning the most fruitful ways in which such a synthesis could be effected. These conclusions, some of which may appear to be extreme and contro versial but all of which are highly provocative and upon which the several writers do not always agree are here presented in complete detail. Among these is the constant theme that neither. Orient nor Occident is philosophically self-sufficient, each lacking that total perspective which is characteristic of philosophy. Specif ically, it is held that the West needs new and wider perspectives, and that the East in addition to its Inevitable practical influence upon the West in the future may provide inspiration as well as specific doctrines for this new Renaissance. In general, the plan of the conference which appears in the form and the content of this volume called for comprehensive, though brief, descriptions of the basic systems and doctrines of the East, primarily żeby Oriental scholars, and analyses of these attitudes in comparison with the basic traditions of the West, żeby Western representatives. The constant interchange of ideas in discussion, resulting in the removal of false or inadequate inter pretations of the East by Western representatives and the achieve ment of a greater mutual understanding, is reflected many times in this study. This aspect of the volume, and the fact that it includes personal representatives of both East and West, make it a unique chapter in the history of comparative philosophy. For the purposes of this study, the East consists primarily of India, China, and Japan. Unfortunately no Indian scholar was Vlii PREFACE available for the conference and so India is not personally rep resented here this deficiency is mitigated, however, by the wide knowledge of Indian thought possessed żeby members of the con ference. The volume has the advantage, however especially in view of current developments of a comprehensive analysis of the several phases of Japanese thought. We were especially privi leged to have at the conference the outstanding Buddhist authority, Professor Junjiro Takakusu. Last-minute emergencies prevented Professors W. E. Hocking and D. T. Suzuki, who have chapters here, from attending the conference. The style of chapter construction and documentation shows some variation throughout the book. Also, some duplication in content will be noticed in the several chapters. Suffice it to say that no ironclad rule of uniformity of style or overstrict limitation of sub ject matter was considered imperative. Transliteration of names and terms from the Sanskrit, Chinese, and Japanese inevitably presents difficulties. The system adopted allows for occasional varia tions from the basic method used for the text as a whole...