A Comparative History of Ideas

Front Cover
Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1992 - 572 pages
Hajime Nakamura argues with remarkable erudition that particular intellectual and social developments can be traced in all great cultures; that each culture deals with its problems in about the same order. Discussing, in their similarities and in their subtle differences, ideas from India, China, Japan and Europe, the author considers such inclusive notions as the concept of God, the controversy over universals and the nature of orthodoxy and heterodoxy. This is a lucid and rewarding book which sets a new standard for dealing with a history of thought across many cultures.

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Contents

Human Existence
237
The Ideal of the Universal State
317
Concluding Remarks
344
FEATURES OF MEDIEVAL THOUGHT
351
Two Types of Religion
370
Theology and its Counterparts
423
Conclusion
469
COMMON FEATURES OF MODERN THOUGHT
475

The Development of Heterodoxies
142
F Concluding Words
183
EARLY UNIVERSAL RELIGIONS
191
B Faith
206
Concluding Words
215
B Attitude toward Philosophy in General
225
Revival of Skepticism
490
Modern Religious Attitudes
511
B Changes in the Evaluation of Man
536
Conclusion of the Discussions on Modern Thought
561
INDEX
568
Copyright

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Page 198 - John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness
Page 251 - Death is swallowed up in victory." ' "O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ''But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Page 23 - ... souls, because they will not use their memories: they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves.
Page 214 - And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into a high mountain apart by themselves ; and he was transfigured before them. And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow so as no fuller on earth
Page 248 - For my part, when I enter most intimately into what I call myself, I always stumble on some particular perception or other, of heat or cold, light or shade, love or hatred, pain or pleasure. I never can catch myself at any time without a perception, and never can observe anything but the perception.
Page 125 - It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him.
Page 407 - But man postpones or remembers; he does not live in the present, but with reverted eye laments the past, or, heedless of the riches that surround him, stands on tiptoe to foresee the future. He cannot be happy and strong until he too lives with nature in the present, above time.
Page 218 - ... them unfounded. If the challenge is not accepted, or is accepted and the attempt fails, we are far enough from certainty still; but we have done the best that the existing state of human reason admits of; we have neglected nothing that could give the truth a chance of reaching us: if the lists are kept open, we may hope that if there be a better truth, it will be found when the human mind is capable of receiving it; and in the meantime we may rely on having attained such approach to truth, as...
Page 192 - Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
Page 257 - Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.

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