Philosophie asiatique/Asian philosophy

This volume on Asian philosophy is the 7th volume in the series Contemporary Philosophy. The main objective of the series is to review the philosophical research over the last 20-30 years in the countries concerned. Quite a few surveys in the present volume also contain original contributions to the discussion of the various topics. The bulk of the contributions are written by scholars from India, Japan, and Korea. A main tenet in nearly all articles is the deep interest in classical philosophy and religious movements. Central topics in Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and also Shamanism are discussed. These traditions are certainly distinct from classical metaphysics in the European philosophy, as is extensively shown by Panikkar in the case of classical Indian thinking. At the same time it is well known that, for instance, Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism have exerted a significant influence on many European philosophers, particularly from Plotinus onwards. Spinoza, Leibniz and Hegel are great mediators between Asian and European philosophical traditions. Besides metaphysical issues, the authors discuss well known topics in moral and political philosophy as well as philosophy of logic and language. The volume no doubt invites to a crosscultural philosophical discussion.