M. Kirloskar-Steinbach and L. Kalmanson, "A Practical Guide to World Philosophies: Selves, Worlds, and Ways of Knowing" (Bloomsbury, 2021)
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What is the main goal of A Practical Guide to World Philosophies and why did the authors write it?
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Welcome to New Books in Philosophy, a channel on the New Books Network. I'm Malcolm Keating, and today we'll be talking to Monica Kurloshgar Steinbach and Leah Kalmanson, authors of A Practical Guide to World Philosophies, Selves, Worlds, and Ways of Knowing, published in 2021 by Bloomsbury Academic Press. It's the first in a new series of primers, which provide a platform for diverse philosophical perspectives. Welcome to New Books in Philosophy, Monica and Leah.
Thanks. Uh Mike.
So let's dive in. Your book focuses on what you're calling world philosophies. We'll talk about what that means as we go along. But first of all, what's your book's main goal and why did you think it was an important book to write?
I'll let you take that, Monica.
Yeah, okay. Um well it's the beginning of a series. Uh both Leah and I work on diversifying philosophy. Uh both of us uh are um at home in that which is called comparative philosophy and cross cultural philosophy. And I think if I may speak for Leah that we were uh sort of unhappy with what we saw happening there because it was not doing justice um to the source material. At least in my work I could see that very clearly. So uh very soon we began working on the methodological aspect of how we could work on ourselves to do more justice to the material we were working on.
And Leah, what about you?
Yes, I'll just I'll just add to that that The the book was conceived of as sort of a a a flagship text or an anchor text to the the book series at Bloomsbury. Um and the whole project was conceived of as providing a venue for people that were doing The kinds of work in comparative philosophy that might push some of the boundaries of the way that particular discourse is sometimes conceived and enacted. Um and so th th the the book itself in many ways was our chance to work out just what we mean by that, right? That we had some ideas about these methodological interventions in mind and and ideas about the kinds of work the series would promote. Um, but the book itself and our writing of it was really a chance for us to articulate that as specifically as possible.
Great. So both of you work in as as you said, Monica, diverse diverse philosophies, world philosophy, comparative philosophy. So how did you come to be interested in world philosophy? And then how did you for this book choose the particular philosophies you focus on as there are quite a few to choose from?
Yeah. Um I initiated and co founded the Journal of World Philosophies in two thousand and fourteen. Uh it began with a German publisher and then we moved on to Indiana University Press. Um Part of the the journal was initiated because of my own dissatisfaction, uh, with as I said, uh
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main goal of A Practical Guide to World Philosophies and why did the authors write it?
0:00–11:30
2
How did Monica and Leah become interested in world philosophies and choose the traditions they cover?
11:30–21:25
3
What is the difference between “comparative philosophy” and “world philosophies,” and why does the distinction matter?
21:25–31:33
4
How do the authors define and apply the concept of “relational knowing” in their methodology?
31:33–41:40
5
What does the book say about Chinese philosophy, especially the role of Zhu Xi and Ruist thought?
41:40–53:27
6
How is the African philosophy of personhood presented, and what debates does it raise?
53:27–57:47
7
What pedagogical strategies (e.g., co‑teaching, memorization exercises) do the authors recommend for teaching non‑Western philosophies?
57:47–1:03:08
8
What upcoming volumes are planned in the Bloomsbury series and what projects are the authors working on now?
1:03:08–1:03:53
Speakers
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