(Part 2) Best eastern philosophy books according to redditors

If you are looking for actual "modern" eastern philosophy and not the traditional religious-tinted texts, I recommend the various Japanese philosophers of the Kyoto School (Nishida, Tanabe, and others). And while you could argue that he wasn't really part of that "school", I recommend Watsuji Tetsuro, especially if you like Ethics (admission: my Masters Thesis was partly about him and his Ethics of Trust. Good stuff but his "Rinrigaku" hasn't fully been translated AFAIK so finding it in English is possible(http://www.amazon.com/Watsuji-Tetsuros-Rinrigaku-Japanese-Philosophy/dp/0791430944), but not complete.).

You can get a great overview in books by James Heisig and John Maraldo, of which I strongly recommend http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Philosophy-Sourcebook-James-Heisig/dp/0824835522 (though their Rude Awakenings was nice too).

As for the other Asian countries, I second some of the suggestions such as the Tao Te Ching, Chuang-tzu, Upanishads, Ramayana, the Gita, the Analects and so forth. They are rich and relevant even in the limited modern philosophical schools in those countries. Skip Alan Watts though...unless you like your Philosophy through the lens of the late 60s.

Here is your book: Aghora by Robert Svaboda. Why? After looking at some of your comments, I gather that you are interested in the practice of meditation as taught by one of the Buddhist schools, and you are interested in psychedelic experiences, e.g., tripping on 'shrooms until you end up in the hospital. While I am completing a masters in the area of roughly "medieval aesthetics in India" - which will open up new areas of experience for you - if you are willing to work very hard for a while. wikipedia "abhinavagupta" and see what you think as his path included the ritual use of intoxicants. The sufi traditions may have something for you too here are some books.
Probably as well to deconstruct terms like "Eastern philosophy/ers" - Indian Theravada thinkers like Dharmakirti and Nargajuna will be worlds apart from the Mahaayaana views of Chinese let alone Japanese lineages. In fact, Dharmakirti and Nargajuna will have more in common with Hindu Nyaaya philosophy and the theistic idealism of Abhinavagupta than with Chinese Mahaayaana. On that note the book "Perception" by BK Matilal is excellent.

Otherwise smoke a bone, read Alan Watts, TD Suzuki, Robert Persig, Deepak and think you're learning Eastern philosophy - chicks dig guys who know Eastern philosophy.

I don’t think that his point is wrong, but there is philosophical work that strictly uses logic to test each worldview and determine what is rational. Atheists don’t argue from logic their worldview is rational, rather they attempt to show Theism is irrational.

The problem is that logic isn’t a court of law. Atheists have as much requirement to show atheism is rational as do Christians for theism. All arguments for Atheism is based upon Empiricism (or in the case of the multiverse a faith based jump larger than an infinite being) and not pure logic.

Philosophical Foundation: A Critical Analysis of Basic Beliefs

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0761839909/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_hY7oDbRJAHRHV

First off - allow me to say that the best way for Westerners to learn about Islam is through Islamic Philosophy. The books I'm going to recommend are introductory books on Islamic Philosophy. I have not included classical works because they can get very deep and in some cases, can only truly be appreciated with the assistance of a teacher.

A good book on the outline, origins, and highlights of Islamic Philosophy and its current state has been written by Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr: Islamic Philosophy from Its Origin to the Present. Professor Nasr (not to be confused with Vali Nasr) has written many books on Islamic Philosophy and Sufism.


A very good book was written by the late Ayatollah Mutahhari: Fundamentals of Islamic Thought: God, Man, and the Universe.

Another strong book on Islamic Philosophy translated in English has been written by the late Muhammad Baqir as-Sadr: Our Philosophy on Amazon or cheaper version here or alternatively Our Philosophy Online. This book, aside from laying down the foundation of epistemology and rationality, includes a critical analysis of various world philosophies (ex. Marxism) from an Islamic perspective.


Finally, you can look at the works of the acclaimed William Chittick. He has multiple works on Sufism, Islamic Philosophy, etc. William Chittick, Seyed Hossein Nasr, and Hamid Algar are who you want to look for. They are the leading Western academics on Islamic Philosophy and Sufism.


If, after reading these books, Shi'a/Sufi philosophy really appeals to you, you should strongly consider learning Persian. The Islamic seminaries in Qom (Iran) have produced many masterpieces. If you'd like to get more resources or recommendations, let me know.

For "where to start" with books, see this FAQ post, from r/askphilosophyFAQ. There are Introductory anthologies, like these. Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy is something I read at about that age, and it was great (with some caveats).

There are also anthologies for Chinese & Indian Philosophy, or introductions to Chinese & Indian Philosophy; or an intro anthology to World Philosophy.

Asian Philosophies (6th Edition) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0205168981/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_xAHjub16NN46F

> 3) Finally, would you be able to recommend any references on the history of logic, semantics, and dialectics in ancient Chinese philosophy (or their closest analogues)?

Alexus McLeod has a recent book on Chinese theories of truth, called Theories of Truth in Chinese Philosophy: A Comparative Approach. That may be of interest to you.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/2952364?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Had the guy as an instructor in college. He was a student of Allan Bloom. You might have seen this edited volume already:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1137374233/ref=nav_timeline_asin?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

i'm gonna piggy-backing on your comment for David R. Schiller's 1600 pages translation

I'm glad it was useful! I've spent a long time following internet rabbit holes and searching dusty library corners for these folks, so I'm glad to pass it along. There are, regrettably, not very many books collecting all these fascinating figures, but I know of a couple. Copleston's famous history of philosophy includes a volume on them. There's a several volume set which serves as kind of an anthology of writings from a variety of schools in that period (here's the link to the second volume, which contains stuff on nihilism and populism). There's also a good biography in English on Pavel Florensky, which digs a bit into the details of this time (and Florensky is worth taking the time to read--just ask /u/blazingtruth).

A few of the Russians who made it to Paris wrote their own surveys, histories, and reflections, but they are of course quite biased (most of these guys are from the Solovyov strand, though, so you'll get a lot of good stuff on his lineage). On this, see Berdyaev's The Russian Idea, Dream and Reality (which is his autobiography), Lossky's History of Russian Philosophy, and others.

As for Solovyov's stuff, Eerdmans publishing has been putting out some of his material in English over the years (they've also translated Bulgakov's works). I know of only two in print right now (find them here). I've read the book on the Good which is nice because you don't have to commit from start to finish--you can sort of skip around--and it introduces Solovyov's metaphysics and his social thought. The second half of it is more practical application of his philosophy/theology.

As you can see, the field is a bit sparse in terms of secondary engagement. You can find articles here and there if you have access to library databases. For anyone looking for research interests or grad school work, learning Russian could be a ticket to a niche area of reading and thinking (it's one I'm thinking of pursuing in Ph.D. work).

For medieval Islamic philosophy, you might consider Classical Arabic Philosophy: An Anthology of Sources.

The introduction gives a solid history of Islamic philosophy written in Arabic, and it contains many good translations. One important thing to remember when studying Islamic philosophy (and especially the thinkers in this anthology) is that the Islamic philosophers were heavily influenced by Aristotle. Much of their thinking and writing engaged and influenced the various major Christian European and Jewish traditions of philosophy. As such, classical Islamic philosophy is sometimes considered part of the Western canon.

I would be delighted! He is my favorite living scholar. His first breakout work was on the relationship between Leo Strauss and Carl Schmitt. He has since then worked extensively in the field of Straussianism, particularly in revitalizing the academic legacy of Carl Schmitt. He focuses primarily on Strauss's distinction between revealed religion and philosophy and how that informs the role of the philosopher within society. Most of his books tend to be succinct and brief, bordering on laconic.
The top three I would reccomend are "The Lesson of Carl Schmitt", "Carl Schmitt and Leo Strauss: The Hidden Dialogue" , "Leo Strauss and the Theological-Political Problem".

If you have any further questions or want to discuss any of his work I am always happy to do so.

here are links on amazon to the referenced texts:

https://www.amazon.com/Lesson-Carl-Schmitt-Distinction-Philosophy/dp/0226518906/ref=la_B001HCW6QQ_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1512083591&sr=1-3

https://www.amazon.com/Carl-Schmitt-Leo-Strauss-Dialogue/dp/0226518884/ref=la_B001HCW6QQ_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF

https://www.amazon.com/Strauss-Theologico-Political-Problem-European-Philosophy/dp/0521699452/ref=la_B001HCW6QQ_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1512083591&sr=1-5

Mo Tzu... fascinating. Only available in hard copy

This is the basic text, but there have been a lot of papers published on it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0230552838

If you have jstor access, you can spend a couple of months working your way through the topic.

If you read Japanese, you can spend a lifetime on it. As the above book mentions, Kierkegaard was translated into Japanese before he was translated into English, precisely because Japanese Zen is existentialism before existentialism had that name.

Everything is about how you read it.

Probably an Eastern philosopher.

Here's a fun way to start looking: http://www.amazon.com/Introducing-Eastern-Philosophy-Third-Totem/dp/184046786X

>i'm doing a seminar class on it

Yikes. Did you volunteer for this?

If you're determined to lecture from the primary text you'll want to read Henry E. Allison's 'Kant's Transcendental Idealism' alongside it.

In all honesty though you're probably going to have to fudge this. It took me six months of pretty intense study before I understand that book well enough to give a lecture on it, and even then I had trouble articulating the ideas in non-Kant speak (which will infect your brain if you're not careful).

Hey, TBM.

I happened to be exploring a particular website, and when I searched "Altizer", this appeared as the first result (of two): Japanese and Continental Philosophy: Conversations with the Kyoto School. Thomas Altizer is certainly the Altizer involved, but I don't know what his relation to the book is. The book seems pertinent to your interests so I figured I'd run it by you.

By the way, and I don't know how to say this without it seeming creepy, but, through knowing some about your interests and, sharing some of them, having subscribed to the same groups, I think that I've figured out who you are on Facebook.

Flag patterns are consolidation formations formed after a primary move upwards or downwards. In the case of a bull-flag, the flag pattern either tilts downwards (amounting to a shallow retracement) or forms sideways. They do not tilt upwards.

If you are interested to learn more about these patterns, I'd recommend a book such as:

https://www.amazon.com/Technical-Analysis-Trends-Robert-Edwards/dp/1607962233/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1521696586&sr=1-12&keywords=technical+analysis+of+stock+trends