Chinese and Indian Ways of Thinking in Early Modern European Philosophy: The Reception and the Exclusion (Bloomsbury Studies in World Philosophies)

"Why were Chinese and Indian ways of thinking excluded from European philosophy in early modern times? This is a study of what happened to the European understanding of China and India between the 17th century and the late 18th-century. In 1600 Otto van Heurn published Barbaricae philosophiae antiquitatum introducing, for the first time in a history of philosophy, Indian philosophical thought. But a century and a half later Jakob Brucker's De Philosophia Exotica rejected the methods of Asian philosophers outright. After Brucker, Chinese and Indian thinkers were excluded from the histories of philosophy, ignored and disparaged by Kantism and Hegelism. Investigating the description of these two Asian civilizations during a century and a half of histories of philosophy, this work accounts for the change of historiographical paradigms, from Neoplatonic philosophia perennis and Spinozistic atheism to German Eclecticism. Uncovering the reasons for inserting or excluding Chinese and Indian ways of thinking within the field of Philosophy in early modern times, it reveals the origin of the Eurocentric understanding of Philosophy as a Greek-European prerogative. By highlighting how this narrowing and exclusion of non-Western ways of thought was a result of ignorance and personal prejudice this work provides a new way of thinking about the place of Asian philosophical traditions in Western ways of thinking"-- Provided by publisher Cover page 1 Halftitle page 2 Series page 3 Title page 4 Copyright page 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Preliminary Note on Some Terms and Quotes 10 List of Abbreviations 11 General Introduction 12 1 India and China between ‘Prisca Theologia’ and Barbarity 22 1.0 Introduction 22 1.1 The first rift in the perennial philosophy model: Otto van Heurn and India 27 1.2 Jesuits and philosophia perennis: Xavier, Postel and Ricci 30 1.3 The second rift in the perennial historical model: Georg Horn and China 42 1.4 Chronology issues: La Peyrère, Isaac Vossius and Georg Horn 46 1.5 China and India: problems of coherence among the theories about the diffusion of philosophy 51 1.6 Thomas Burnet: modern Asia as ‘wretched Barbarity’ 53 Conclusions of the first chapter 67 2 ‘Atheistic Asia’: Positive and Negative Standpoints 70 2.0 Introduction 70 2.1 Missionary construction of the Asiatic negative myth in the seventeenth century: Buddhist atheism 72 2.2 The reception of the negative myth of Asia in seventeenth-century Europe: François Bernier 81 2.3 Pierre Bayle and the ‘Oriental Spinozism’ 87 2.4 The effects of Bayle’s ‘Oriental Spinozism’: a few instances of Histories of Philosophy in French 100 2.5 Johann Franz Buddeus as critical follower of the ‘Oriental Spinozism’ 102 2.6 The last effective perennialist philosopher: Leibniz 105 2.7 Boureau-Deslandes: an anti-Bayle thinker with new insights 107 Conclusions of the second chapter 113 3 The Complete Exclusion of Asians from Philosophy 116 3.0 Introduction 116 3.1 The Grecization of philosophy 118 3.2 German Eclecticism and Christian Wolff 119 3.3 Christoph August Heumann: the theorist of exclusion 122 3.4 Friedrich Gentzken: Asians lack morality and theoretics 130 3.5 Jakob Brucker: the unphilosophical nature of ancient Asians’ thought 133 3.6 Jakob Brucker: the contemporary ‘Exotic’ Asians out of philosophy 142 3.7 Jakob Brucker’s ‘system of philosophy’ and Chinese thinking 155 Conclusion: The Tight Shoes of Philosophy 164 Notes 178 Bibliography 220 Index 236 Why were Chinese and Indian ways of thinking excluded from European philosophy in early modern times? This is a study of what happened to the European understanding of China and India between the late 16th century and the first half of the 18th century. Investigating the description of these two Asian civilizations during a century and a half of histories of philosophy, this book accounts for the change of historiographical paradigms, from Neoplatonic philosophia perennis and Spinozistic atheism to German Eclecticism. Uncovering the reasons for inserting or excluding Chinese and Indian ways of thinking within the field of Philosophy in early modern times, it reveals the origin of the Eurocentric understanding of Philosophy as a Greek-European prerogative. By highlighting how this narrowing and exclusion of non-Western ways of thought was a result of conviction of superiority and religious prejudice, this book provides a new way of thinking about the place of Asian traditions among World philosophies. "In this book, Anthony Williams investigates the history of Christian Socialist thought in Britain from the late nineteenth to mid-twentieth century. Through analysis of the writings of ten key Christian Socialists from the period, Williams reframes the ideology of Christian Socialism as a coherent and influential body of political thought - moving the study of Christian Socialism away from historical narratives and towards political ideology. The book sheds new light on a key period in British political development, in particular Williams demonstrates how the growth of the Christian Socialist movement exercised a profound impact on the formation of the British Labour party, which would go on to radically change 20th century politics in Britain"-- Provided by publisher "An investigation into the reasons for the inclusion and exclusion of Chinese and Indian philosophical thought in 17th-and-18th-century Europe"-- Provided by publisher