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Comparative philosophers are well aware of the interpretive difficulties that arise when using the methodological tools of one tradition to understand another. Such difficulties, however, also arise when looking back through traditions. This is especially the case with ancient Greek philosophy understood as the foundation of the Western philosophical tradition. Unreflective application to ancient Greek thought of methodologies that developed later in the tradition can introduce ways of thinking as foreign to it as to a non-Western tradition. This essay demonstrates how certain strategies developed by comparativists can and should be employed in interpreting ancient Greek philosophy.

In this essay I consider the challenges faced by non-specialists in comparative philosophy. I address several familiar objections to incorporating non-Western material into standing philosophy courses (i.e., the view that the material is, indeed, not included in the category philosophy, or the worry that there simply is not enough time to cover such material). In answering these objections, I emphasize that what we today call the “Western” canon has historically been shaped by a plurality of cultures. I then conclude with several sample course modules, designed to help non-specialists incorporate sessions on Islamic and Chinese philosophy into introductory classes.

In this essay I recount three interesting questions students have asked me in comparative classroom settings, each of which I see as helping to problematize assumptions about the material they are studying as well as teachers’ responsibilities in unearthing and responding to these underlying prejudices. I outline the difficult position in which comparative philosophy teachers at times find themselves in (i.e., occupying the role of cultural representative for a variety of cultures and traditions). I then conclude with several pedagogical strategies to support teachers negotiating such cross-cultural conversations.

This paper provides an overview of some of the most significant engagements and appropriations of Western philosophy by Chinese intellectuals. Both the process of translation of Western philosophical texts and the importance of historical and cultural upheavals in China are contextualized into a schematic periodization which sheds light on the divergent ways in which Chinese philosophers have engaged Western philosophy since the 16th century.