Philosophy and Comparative Philosophy

LOOKING AT THE philosophical scene in India and the West, one finds, in general, a sort of class distinction between those doing general philosophy and those pursuing studies in Important names in the one field are generally different from those in the other. This may not seem to be true of India, but India can hardly claim to have produced important philosophers, as distinguished from noted interpreters of her past philosophies, during the recent times. Even Sri Aurobindo and K. C. Bhattacharyya are not significant enough as constructive philosophers judged by modern standards; they certainly cannot compare with such daring and careful modern Western thinkers as Russell and Wittgenstein, or even with Sartre and Heidegger. The situation may be taken to be an instance of division of labor, but it may also be supposed to be indicative of a real difference between the nature, aims, and methods of the two disciplines, philosophy and The present paper aims at showing that such a supposition would be unjustified, and that the nature and aims and, to a large extent, the method or methods of comparative philosophy, so called, are essentially continuous with those of philosophy. The contrary appearance is due to the accidents of the historical environment in which studies in philosophy have so far been pursued. In this environment the most important single factor has been the unequal political (and perhaps economic) status of the Eastern and the Western hemispheres; national and/or racial pride have been other significant factors closely associated with the first. Political and economic superiority of a cultural region bestows a sort of automatic sanction on its ways of thought and life; the circumstance generates a defensive complex in the regions lagging behind in these respects. The situation leads to the making of exaggerated claims and counter-claims by the respective votaries of the regions in question. I have no intention to dilate on this point here; what I want to em

Epistemology · Indian and Buddhist Studies · Indian History and Philosophy · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics

• Rethinking Comparative Philosophical Methodology

  Xiao Ouyang, Ouyang Xiao 欧阳霄•Philosophy East and West•2018

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