APA Newsletters

Spring 2001
Volume 00, Number 2

Newsletter on Teaching in Philosophy

Book Reviews

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Joel J. Kupperman, Learning From Asian Philosophy New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. 208 pp. Cloth, $45, paper, $19.95. Can be ordered at www.oup-usa.org.

Oliver Leaman, Key Concepts in Eastern Philosophy London and New York: Routledge, 1999. xxx + 319 pp. Cloth, $60, paper, $17.99. Can be ordered at www.oup-usa.org.

Reviewed by Peter Bolland
Palomar College

Interest in Asian philosophy continues to expand. Two new books contribute in distinct ways to this growing field. Although very different works, both Joel J. Kupperman's Learning From Asian Philosophy and Oliver Leaman's Key Concepts in Eastern Philosophy share the virtues of high level scholarship, insightful detail and accessibility.

Joel J. Kupperman's Learning From Asian Philosophy is a collection of essays, most of them previously published, tied together with newly written transitional passages. The central claim of Kupperman's work is that Asian philosophy is not just a different set of answers to the same old questions; rather, it presents unique approaches to philosophical questions and issues not normally found in the western tradition. Insights from these different issues and approaches create an opportunity to rethink western notions from a fresh angle.

Although Kupperman does occasionally takes pains to introduce certain foundational ideas, Learning From Asian Philosophy is, for the most part, too advanced for beginning undergraduate students because it assumes that the reader is familiar with a wide range of positions and arguments in the philosophical tradition. Kupperman moves quickly through chains of references to the ideas of Rawls, Nietzsche, Sartre, Camus, Hume, Kant and Aristotle (among others), apparently expecting his readers to share his familiarity with the ideas of these philosophers. Learning From Asian Philosophy is nevertheless an excellent resource for graduate students and professors seeking new ways to formulate and assess three major themes that run through the book: ethics, the self, and the nature of philosophical communication.

Kupperman sets out to explore the unique qualities of the Asian philosophical canon rather than express the central tenets of the major schools of Asian philosophy. While Asian philosophy is often dismissed by some as "wisdom literature" (a derogatory term that implies a lack of analytical clarity), Kupperman succeeds in showing that the questions, topics and approaches in Taoism, Confucianism and the Indian traditions are, by every measure, philosophy of the highest order. If the task of philosophy is the attainment of wisdom, then the contributions of Asian philosophy rank alongside the best of humanity's philosophical statements. Many have failed to recognize this, Kupperman argues, because an attempt to find Asian answers to western questions often leaves more puzzles than it solves. Instead, Kupperman advocates-then demonstrates in his work-the fruitful dialogue between eastern and western philosophy on issues such as selfhood.

Divided into six sections, "The Formation of Self as an Ethical Problem," "The Fluidity of Self," "Choice," "The Scope of Ethics", "The Demands of Ethics," and "Philosophy as Communication," Kupperman's book is an excellent exploration of the distinct philosophical investigations of the Asian traditions. In "The Demands of Ethics" section, for example, there is an essay called "The Supra-Moral in Religious Ethics: The Case of Buddhism" where the problem of two-tiered ethical systems is explored. Buddhism, Kupperman argues, is a vibrant example of how two sets of ethical ideals can exist within one community without contradiction. Monks are typically held to a higher moral standard than lay people without any sense of the one occupying a superior position and the other an inferior one. It is rather that "ethical prescriptives impinge with different force on persons in different social contexts". (Kupperman, 176)

The last essay in the book, "Not In So Many Words: Zhuangzi's Strategies of Communication", is a powerful example of Kupperman's work at its finest. It is a persuasive argument that the meaning of Zhuangzi's stories cannot be captured by prosaic summaries. Classic tales from the Zhuangzi such as "Three in the Morning" and "The Butterfly Dream" defy formulation. When we let the stories stand as they are, we find a living, breathing, fluid meaning that is, by its very nature, like all knowledge, provisional. "The meaning of the story," Kupperman writes, "...must be found in a series of resonances-natural reflections and delayed responses-that are indefinite in character and do not admit of a precise termination point. Auditors and readers vary, and it would be wrong to suggest that there is a series of reflections and responses that constitutes all appropriate understanding of the text. But neither is it the case that the text is merely a vehicle for free association...." (Kupperman, 190) Admittedly, the reader or interpreter plays a role in the construction of meaning, but the text is not to be seen simply as a catalyst for private, subjective musings. There is meaning in the text. But it can only be realized in a mind fluidly engaged with the text. And it might take some time.

Learning From Asian Philosophy ends with a nine page bibliography and a four page index.

Oliver Leaman's Key Concepts in Eastern Philosophy is a reference work, an extensive dictionary covering a wide variety of Eastern thinkers, concepts and schools of thought, in alphabetical order. Leaman performs the difficult task of explaining with precision and brevity the essential philosophical ideas from the national traditions of China, India, Japan, Korea, Persia, Tibet and the Islamic world, with reference made to Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Shintoism, Sufism, Taoism and Zoroastrianism.

While the line between philosophy and religion in the Asian traditions is hard to demarcate, Leaman concentrates as much as possible on what may be called the philosophical side of things. Philosophical ideas are usually expressed in arguments, and Leaman, admirably, goes beyond the mere presentation of ideas to the recreation of the arguments within which those ideas are found. It is not that Leaman mechanically recounts the entire historical development of a given idea. Instead, he provides a focused examination of the context of the idea, thereby offering the reader an opportunity to get a sense of the issues surrounding that idea within the tradition.

One of the delightful and unusual features of this book is the inclusion of attention to the Islamic tradition, a feature not often found in books of this kind. Cross-referencing allows the reader to explore the connections and contrasts between the Islamic tradition and the traditions of India and east Asia.

In the Introduction to the book, Leaman makes it clear that the work is not intended to be definitive, encyclopedic or complete, though in addition to entries regarding essential and specific terms such as 'dharma,' 'karma,' and 'zen,' Leaman includes thoughtful discussions on more general philosophical themes such as action, being, causation, cosmology, education, evil, friendship, God, human nature, ignorance, imagination, justice, knowledge, language, law, logic, mind, and time.

This is a useful and valuable portrait of Eastern philosophy, albeit from one scholar's perspective. The

book is extensively cross-referenced with helpful recommendations for further reading following every entry. It presupposes no extensive background in Eastern philosophy on the part of its readers, and this will make it valuable to beginning students or anyone else interested in quickly expanding his or her understanding of Eastern thought.

A twelve-page section at the end called "References and Further Reading" serves as an excellent bibliography. This is followed by a seventeen-page 'Index of Terms' and a three-page 'Index of Thinkers'.

I have found both Kupperman's Learning From Asian Philosophy and Leaman's Key Concepts in Eastern Philosophy edifying in my own continuing education as a professor of Eastern philosophy. While I would not assign Kupperman's book for my undergraduate students, I would recommend it highly to my colleagues. Both works belong in every academic library.

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APA Newsletters

Spring 2001 Volume 00, Number 2

Spring 2001
Volume 00, Number 2