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South and East Asian Philosophy Reader (Levin et al.)
5: OTHER PARTS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD AND PARALLELS TO THE EAST

5: OTHER PARTS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD AND PARALLELS TO THE EAST

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At the same time that most of the works in this textbook were written, Philosophy in Ancient Europe, primarily Greece and the surrounding areas, was gaining momentum. In what follows in this Unit are some selections from “Western” philosophies that were written around the same time period as those works presented in the first four Units of this work. The selections here have been chosen because they cover topics that were of interest to the Ancient Eastern Philosophers and can provide a different perspective to help better understand them. As you read what follows, compare and contrast the ideas, the focus of the work, and structure and style of argumentation to their counterparts in South and East Asian Philosophy. Doing such comparative philosophy is always a productive exercise that not only teaches one more philosophy, but also aids in better understanding the nuances of what has already been studied.