World Philosophies

World Philosophies is a comprehensive survey of the world's philosophical and religious traditions by one of our foremost religious thinkers. Ninian Smart discusses notable figures such as Plato and Kierkegaard in the West, the Buddha and Mao Zedong in Asia, Tempels and Knibanga in Africa, and Rodo and Royce in America. Covering a wide range of topics including Indian ideas of testimony and evidence, Chinese notions of moral development, Buddhist concepts of cosmology and Latin American critiques of materialism, Smart sheds new light on the astonishing diversity of philosophies that have developed throughout history.

Ninian Smart is Chairperson of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of numerous books, including most recently, Reflections in the Mirror of Religion (1997) and The Religious Experience (1996).