The idea that philosophy is a distinctively, even exclusively, European phenomenon finds systematic expression in the continental tradition (as Victoria Lysenko notes in her fine lecture): Hegel, Husserl, Heidegger, in particular. (Nietzsche was a special case.) Wilhelm Halbfass offers insightful and nuanced discussions of their views in "India and Europe," Part I. I think one of the best "proof texts" for this position is Husserl's "Vienna Lecture" (1935), contained as an appendix in "The Crisis of European Sciencs and Transcendental Phenomenology." (Perhaps Matthew Kapstein and Jonardon Ganeri mention this text as well; at the moment I am not where I can check.) It makes for interesting reading, especially when read together with the "Crisis"; certainly, it is not complete nonsense. The strength of Halbfass' work is that he is both critical of this tendency and determined to understand it. The disparaging of Asian thought in the analytic tradition is more anecdotal, and usually takes the form of complaining that Asian philosophy is lacking in worthwhile arguments, i.e., arguments that can be employed in solving problems in contemporary analytic philosophy. B. K. Matilal (the pioneer) and now many others have tried to dispell this impression, but I think with mixed results.

On Jun 4, 2012, at 9:51 AM, David Fiordalis wrote:

Dear colleagues,

On Sun, Jun 3, 2012 at 10:16 PM, <mkapstei@uchicago.edu> wrote:
Some Indology subscribers may be interested in the
following, from the electronic edition of the New York Times:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/03/philosophys-western-bias/?ref=global-home

As someone who will be teaching an intro course called "Philosophy East and West" this coming academic year, the article Justin Smith published in nytimes.com resonated with me. I'm glad that Matthew Kapstein posted it to this list.

This may not be the most appropriate forum to ask, but given the wide reading of the members of this list, maybe some will have good suggestions to the following query. I'm currently looking for are clear, accessible statements -- proof-texts if you like -- from Western philosophical literature of the claim that non-western philosophy (Indian, Chinese, Islamic, African, etc.) is not philosophy or is otherwise lesser in some respect. Most often, this is an implicit assumption or one easily follows. I'm looking for a few choice quotes or short readings that will make an impact undergraduates with little to no prior exposure to the issue.

Thanks for any suggestions you might have.

Sincerely,

David Fiordalis
Linfield College