Abstract

Can contemporary American philosophy be characterized in a way which would meaningfully distinguish it from philosophy in other times, other places? The somewhat negative answer to this question given by John E. Smith and Andrew J. Reck is a source of puzzlement to Roger T. Simonds, author of the first essay in this collaboration volume. Simonds asserts, with reference to activism, pragmatism, and optimism, that while "these qualities are... not the exclusive property of American philosophers," yet "Americans seem to show them more than others do," and this is a meaningful characterization because "America herself is a sort of incarnation of Western activism, pragmatism, and optimism." Whether Western philosophy as a whole can profitably take a new point of departure, viz., that of Shankara, the ninth century systematizer of Vedantism, is the question dealt with in the second essay of this volume, written by Cornelia D. Church. Both Shankara and Western philosophers attempt to bring into focus God, the world, man, and mind, but Shankara tries to see how man can be liberated from his limits of perception through a quasi-mystical technique. The possibilities of this avenue for Western seekers of truth, according to Miss Church, "are tremendously exciting."