Preface

In one sense all philosophies attempt to analyse a small number of questions central to human life: the self, knowledge, the nature of the cosmos and reality, God or the divine. But while topics may be common, approaches have differed historically, and according to the traditions and times in which particular thinkers have worked. The Royal Institute of Philosophy's London Lecture series for 2012–13 brought together contributions from scholars expert in different traditions in order to explore continuities and discontinuities in world philosophy. In this volume there are papers on Indian thought, including Buddhist and Jain contributions, on Daoism, on Modern Japanese approaches, on Jewish and Islamic thought, on stoicism, and on African philosophy, as well as on modern analytical philosophy, the so-called ‘Continental’ tradition and on the thought of Nietzsche.