The Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies

Book Description

This unparalleled study of early Eastern and Western philosophy challenges every existing belief about the foundations of Western civilization. Spanning thirty years of intensive research, this book proves what many scholars could not explain: that today's Western world must be considered the product of both Greek and Indian thought—Western and Eastern philosophies.

Thomas McEvilley explores how trade, imperialism, and migration currents allowed cultural philosophies to intermingle freely throughout India, Egypt, Greece, and the ancient Near East. This groundbreaking reference will stir relentless debate among philosophers, art historians, and students.

Customer Reviews:

Throwing Light on the Landscape of the Orthodox.......2007-04-12

Thomas McEvilley, 'The Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies.' New York: Allworth Press, 2002. ISBN 1581152035. Hardback, 731 pp. Illustrated with b/w plates, maps, and with a detailed bibliography and index.

The orthodox position regarding the early Greek philosophers might be thought of as a view which likes to see Ancient Greece as a self-contained clearly demarcated autochthonous entity, and the Greeks as more or less like us in meaning by 'philosophy' what our orthodox professors such as Guthrie, Kirk, Raven, Barnes etc., mean by the term.

Over this orthodox landscape the American scholar Thomas McEvilley has arrived like a thunderbolt of Indra with a burst of brilliant light that enables us to see clearly for the first time things that without him we might never have seen.

As a classicist who is competent, not only in Greek and Latin but also in Sanskrit and several other languages, and who is conversant, not merely with the history and primary texts of an isolated and clearly demarcated 'Greece' (which never existed except in the minds of the orthodox), but with the larger Indian-Mesopotamian-Egyptian-Greek complex, he has devoted thirty years research to bringing before us a massive and comprehensive account of the philosophies that burgeoned and grew within that complex.

It was a complex in which an enormous amount of movement took place with innumerable people of various sorts engaged in travel by both land and sea - statesmen, ambassadors, emissaries, couriers, merchants, bankers, financial agents, healers, soldiers, sailors, scholars, students, priests, missionaries, religious mendicants, holy men, wonder workers, tourists, sightseers, etc.

It was also one in which people still retained their natural curiosity about others, their ways of life and beliefs, and would have been eager to listen to the wise and informed no matter what region of the earth they hailed from. This open-mindedness, naturally enough, led to a great deal of cross-fertilization of ideas which McEvilley, a man who happily is similarly open-minded, sets out before us in detail. What he shows us is that, while it is undoubtedly true that Indian thinkers learned certain things from the Greeks, it is equally true that the Greeks learned some very important things from the Indians.

By all means read Guthrie and Kirk and Raven and Barnes and the rest of the tribe of the Orthodox, but be aware that - imprisoned as they are in the cave of wishful thinking with its ceaseless and seductive whisper - autochthonous ... autochthonous ... autochthonous - they are giving you only an incomplete and distorted picture of what ancient Greek thought was really about. For the bigger and truer picture you will most assuredly need McEvilley's truly magisterial study, a study which throws a dazzling and brilliant light over what has hitherto been the somewhat dim and distorted landscape of the orthodox.

Shaping a Thoughtful Review of This Book.......2007-01-14

Will result in the use of superlatives. I cannot imagine anyone interested in this or related topics that would not find this book useful, impressive and inspiring for research or pleasure. It is careful, thorough, detailed, documented and the result of a prodigious intellectual curiosity and integrity. Bravo!

A Gem among countless trash books. Genuine Metaphysics.......2006-06-12

Of the many 1000s of books on Indian and Greek metaphysics I own, this is the only one written within the past 40 years thats intelligent and insightful. The author has the better part of a grasp upon the Monistic ontology of Greek and Indian metaphysics and the "ascent to the One" (epistrophe). Noticeably those greats such as Dr. A.K. Coomaraswamy and S. Radhakrishnan loved both Neoplatonism and Indian Advaita metaphysics equally, and in the same par as them is the author of this, Mr. McEvilley. From someone that despises nearly all books as profane trash written by simpleminded fools, let me say this book is not one of them; which is an incredible exception to the rule of modern sophistry and existentialist empiricism.

Recommending only 10 books out of over many 1000s I own on being a genuine book upon Metaphysics, this is one of those very few 10.

Helping the frog out of the well.......2005-05-18

According to a familiar Japanese maxim, "The frog in a well does not know of the great ocean (i no naka no kawazu taikai wo shirazu). Many Western academics have long been quite comfortable in their Eurocentric well with Greece and Rome to the east, Europe in the middle and the Americas to the east -- all more or less joined together by the Three Great Monotheistic Faiths. Beyond the well lie exotic unexplored lands whose ways of thinking and behaving differ from those of us in the "real" Western world. Few of our universities have departments of philosophy that bother to offer even a survey course in Eastern philosophies; and even fewer really take the issue seriously.

With _The Shape of Ancient Thought_ Professor McEvilley has lowered a sturdy bucket into our Western well and invites us on a philosophical journey into one of these unexplored lands: Ancient India -- discussing the relationships and possible cross-cultural influences between early Western (i.e., Greek and Roman) philosophies and those of India. I completely agree with the unqualified enthusiasm of the six earlier Reviewers who have already taken the trip. I have little to add -- except a postscript.

Those who recognize the strong impact of Buddhism on Japanese literature will surely spot several chapters in the following list worth exploring. For example, Murasaki's appeal to the Mahayana principle of Skillful Means (hoben) in the "Hotaru" chapter of the _Genji monogatari_ as justification for composing "fabrications" leads us back eventually to Nagarjuna, the Madhyamika, and the _Lotus Sutra_. We are just at the beginning of the search for such influences.

Here is a list of the chapters following 36 pages of front matter:
Ch. 1. Diffusion Channels in the Pre-Alexandrian Period
Ch. 2. The Problem of the One and the Many
Ch. 3. The Cosmic Cycle
Ch. 4. The Doctrine of Reincarnation
Ch. 5. Platonic Monism and Indian Thought
Ch. 6. Platonic Ethics and Indian Yoga
Ch. 7. Plato, Orphics, and Jains [Jainism = Jyainaa kyo, Jinakyo]
Ch. 8. Plato and Kundalini
Ch. 9. Cynics and Pasupatas
Ch. 10. Five Questions Concerning the Ancient Near East
Ch. 11. The Elements
Ch. 12. Early Pluralisms in Greece and India
Ch. 13. Skepticism, Empiricism, and Naturalism
Ch. 14. Diffusion Channels in the Hellenistic and Roman Periods
Ch. 15. Dialectic before Alexander
Ch. 16. Early Greek Philosophy and Madhyamika [Madhyamika = Chuganha]
Ch. 17. Pyrrhonism and Madhyamika [Pyrrhonism >> Scepticism]
Ch. 18. The Path of the Dialectic [Nagarjuna = Ryuju]
Ch. 19. The Syllogism
Ch. 20. Peripatetics and Vaisesikas [Vaisesika = Vuaishieeshika gakuha]
Ch. 21. The Stoics and Indian Thought
Ch. 22. Neoplatonism and the Upanisadic-Vedantic Tradition
Ch. 23. Plotinus and Vijnanavada Buddhism [Vijnanavada. See Yuishiki, Hosso]
Ch. 24. Neoplatonism and Tantra [Tantra. See Mikkyo.]
Ch. 25. The Ethics of Imperturbability

Concluding Remarks. Then 5 appendices on the Aryans, the Aryan invasion,
Black Athena and Western Xenophobia, the Golden Thigh, Philosophy and Grammar, followed by a List of Works Cited, and a 29-page Index.

This is clearly a masterpiece! However, it may take time for it to be so recognized: many of us are still in wells of one kind or another with lots of other frogs.

a tour de force.......2004-07-24

This work is a splendid achievement. I came to it as a reader with a very strong background in the history of Western Philosophy, and only a very sketchy familiarity with Indian Philosophy. McEvilley has seemingly mastered all the primary texts in both traditions, and he discusses a vast array of secondary literature, by Western and Indian scholars, in a very fair-minded and thorough fashion. This book fully deserves to be required reading for anyone who wants to understand ancient philosophy.
He also discusses historical matters, especially pertaining to the Hellenistic kindoms of Central Asia, that were quite illuminating. I certainly had no idea that cities like Gandahar, in what is now Afghanistan, were Greek-speaking centres for many centuries. That region: Khorasan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and the southern parts Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, was once one of the centres of world civilization. Many educated readers might be familiar with the history of the Khwarazmian renaissance, associated with names such as Al-Biruni, Omar Khayyam, Al-Tusi, Al-Khwarazmi, Ibn Sina, and so forth. Those thinkers are often cited as the among the glories of Islamic civilization - in fact they represented the last gasp of Hellenistic civilization in that region, finally re-arising after the catastrophe of Islamic conquest. When the cities of Khorasan were again utterly destroyed by the Mongol invasions, that civilization was unable to recover, and the slow cancerous rot of Islamic anti-intellectualism snuffed out any further hope of revival. The decline of that region's intellectual life, from the early period McEvilley describes to the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas in 2001, is a dismal trajectory to contemplate.

Customer Reviews:

Why did this book get slammed by the previous reviewer?.......2004-11-28

11/26/04

That's a good question. The book was on the MIX Bookshelf Best Sellers List for an entire year after it first came out.

I received a lot of nice email from people who bought, used and enjoyed the book. They said it helped them improve their skills and the quality of their work.

The book has been used in schools around the world, based on the email I received and it enjoyed two printings.

I was recently contacted by a college professor who said Focal told him the book had been discontinued. I thanked him for the info, wrote Focal and, by our contract, the copyright has been returned to me. I'll be revamping the text (it was written in 1993 and a lot has changed). For more info, visit http://www.tyford.com

Regards,

Ty Ford

For the beginner and intermediate, this is a great help........1999-06-06

This book has most of the basic information you really need to get from "clueless" to "have a clue." It's written in simple English and will set you on the road to being able to make sense out of audio whether you're in a basement or getting started as a professional. It's also very helpful to people in radio who produce spots and promos.

NOT "Advanced" and overpriced.......1998-11-25

I was very eager to receive this book. I follow Ty Ford's reviews in Pro Audio Review and respect his opinions. However, the title of "Advanced Audio Production Techniques" is misleading. The book is anything but advanced. I was deeply disappointed.

The concepts presented in "Advanced Audio Production Techniques" are basic and should have been long mastered by anyone looking to improve his or her audio chops with "advanced" material. The book does make a good primer and covers a broad range of topics. And Ford does an excellent job explaining the basics of compression -- a tricky topic. As a primer, however, $32.95 is entirely too high. For the same price you could get a subscription to Recording magazine, Electronic Musician or EQ, all of which will cover the same territory in more detail over the course of a year.

A much better bet is Hank Linderman's "Hot Tips for the Home Recording Studio." It also is a book about the basics and presents itself that way. And, frankly, it far exceeds its stated "Home Studio" focus. The material covered is applicable even to professional recording situations. Linderman goes into sufficient detail about the equipment, processes and specific techniques of recording. "Hot Tips" is an invaluable resource that I return to frequently just to brush up.

Book Description

"When I am an Old Coot, I will wear funny hats and loud ties, flowered underwear and bright yellow suspenders. I will break all the silly, proper rules and be a kid again." So begins a mischievous look at growing older and making the most of it. With an irreverent perspective, this absolutely hilarious book contains witticisms like these: When I am an Old Coot: "I will call 'A Current Affair' and ask them how I can order one." "I will dawdle by the cleaning lady, pretend to stumble and grab her buttocks firmly."

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When I Am an Old Coot

Manufacturer: Gibbs Smith
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000GRROVU

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When I Am an Old Coot
Roy English
Manufacturer: Gibbs Smith Publisher
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KP8PFW

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When I Am an Old Coot Prepack
Roy English
Manufacturer: Gibbs Smith Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0879058811

Book Description

In this enlightening and entertaining book, one of the most original and sophisticated musicologists writing today turns his attention to music's most dramatic genre. Extending his ongoing project of clarifying music's various roles in Western society, Kramer brings to opera his distinctive and pioneering blend of historical concreteness and theoretical awareness.
Opera is legendary for going to extremes, a tendency that has earned it a reputation for unreality. Opera and Modern Culture shows the reverse to be true. Kramer argues that for the past two centuries the preoccupation of a group of famous operas with the limits of supremacy and debasement helped to define a normality that seems the very opposite of the operatic. Exemplified in a series of beloved examples, a certain idea of opera--a fiction of opera--has contributed in key ways to the modern era's characterizations of desire, identity, and social order. Opera and Modern Culture exposes this process at work in operas by Richard Wagner, who put modernity on the agenda in ways no one after him could ignore, and by the young Richard Strauss. The book continues the initiative of much recent writing in treating opera as a multimedia rather than a primarily musical form. From Lohengrin and The Ring of the Niebelung to Salome and Elektra, it traces the rich interplay of operatic visions and voices and their contexts in the birth pangs of modern life.

Opera and Modern Culture: Wagner and Strauss.(Book review): An article from: Notes

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Opera and Modern Culture: Wagner and Strauss.(Book review): An article from: Notes
Scott Warfield
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from Notes, published by Thomson Gale on September 1, 2006. The length of the article is 1393 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Opera and Modern Culture: Wagner and Strauss.(Book review)
Author: Scott Warfield
Publication: Notes (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 63 Issue: 1 Page: 116(3)

Article Type: Book review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Richard Wagner: The Last of the Titans.(Opera and Modern Culture: Wagner and Strauss)(Nietzsche and Music)(Book review): An article from: Canadian Journal of History

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Richard Wagner: The Last of the Titans.(Opera and Modern Culture: Wagner and Strauss)(Nietzsche and Music)(Book review): An article from: Canadian Journal of History
Ruth A. Starkman
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Canadian Journal of History, published by Thomson Gale on March 22, 2006. The length of the article is 5150 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Richard Wagner: The Last of the Titans.(Opera and Modern Culture: Wagner and Strauss)(Nietzsche and Music)(Book review)
Author: Ruth A. Starkman
Publication: Canadian Journal of History (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 22, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 41 Issue: 1 Page: 85(10)

Article Type: Book review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

Whether they appear in mystery novels or headline news stories, on prime-time TV or the silver screen, few figures have maintained such an extraordinary hold on the American cultural imagination as modern police officers. Why are we so fascinated with the police and their power? What relation do these pervasive media representations bear to the actual history of modern policing?

Christopher P. Wilson explores these questions by examining narratives of police power in crime news, popular fiction, and film, showing how they both reflect and influence the real strategies of law enforcement on the beat, in the squad room, and in urban politics. He takes us from Theodore Roosevelt's year of reform with the 1890s NYPD to the rise of "community policing," from the classic "police procedural" film The Naked City to the bestselling novels of LAPD veteran Joseph Wambaugh. Wilson concludes by demonstrating the ways in which popular storytelling about police power has been intimately tied to the course of modern liberalism, and to the rising tide of neoconservatism today.

"A thorough, brilliant blend that crosses disciplines."—Choice

"[S]ophisticated, highly theoretical and ambitious. . . . Connects the history of policing to cultural representations of crime, criminals and cops."—Times Literary Supplement

"[A] deeply satisfying approach to the crime narrative. . . . [Wilson] focuses, ultimately, on the role of police power in cultural storytelling."—American Quarterly

Cop Knowledge: Police Power and Cultural Narrative in Twentieth-Century America.(Book Review): An article from: The Modern Language Review

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Cop Knowledge: Police Power and Cultural Narrative in Twentieth-Century America.(Book Review): An article from: The Modern Language Review
David Glover
Manufacturer: Modern Humanities Research Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Modern Language Review, published by Modern Humanities Research Association on July 1, 2002. The length of the article is 753 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Cop Knowledge: Police Power and Cultural Narrative in Twentieth-Century America.(Book Review)
Author: David Glover
Publication: The Modern Language Review (Refereed)
Date: July 1, 2002
Publisher: Modern Humanities Research Association
Volume: 97 Issue: 3 Page: 698-700

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Customer Reviews:

Well worth reading........2000-07-11

Paul Christensen has produced a smart and scholarly look at one of the key social groups in post-Soviet Russia -- the working class. While there have been a lot of books published in recent years that discuss the prospects for internal peace and economic growth in the former Soviet Union, Christensen's is one of only a tiny number to focus on the class that was supposed to benefit from the 1917 Revolution.

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