George Anastaplo has written brilliantly and persuasively about ancient and modern Western political philosophy and literature and about American Constitutional history and law. With his latest book Anastaplo turns away from his areas of admitted expertise to offer, in his own words, 'the explorations of a determined amateur with some practice in reading.' The essays contained in this volume were originally conceived as a set of seminars, each culminating in a public lecture, which in turn formed the basis for contributions to Encyclopedia Brittanica's 1961-1998 series The Great Ideas Today. Gathered in this one volume, But Not Philosophy provides useful and thought-provoking introductions to seven major 'schools' of non-Western thought: Mesopotamian, ancient African, Hindu, Confucian, Buddhist, Islamic, and North American Indian. Anastaplo studies ancient literary epics and legal codes and examines religious traditions and systems of thought, providing detailed references to authoritative histories and commentators. Movingly and thoughtfully written, the essays encourage readers to bring their own Western traditions under similar scrutiny, to study our own grasp of the divine, reliance upon nature and causality, and dependence on philosophy-to learn about what we are from what we are not.

George Anastaplo, author of numerous books, teaches at the University of Chicago, Loyola University, and Dominican University.

Chapter 1 Mesopotamian Thought: The Gilgamesh EpicChapter 2 Ancient African (including Egyptian) ThoughtChapter 3 Hindu Thought: The Bhagavad GitaChapter 4 Confucian Thought: The AnalectsChapter 5 Buddhist ThoughtChapter 6 Islamic Thought: The KoranChapter 7 North American Indian ThoughtChapter 8 Appendices: On BeginningsChapter 9 Appendices: On the Human Soul, Nature, and the Moral VirtuesChapter 10 Appendices: On the Use, Neglect, and Abuse of Veils: The Parliaments of the World's Religions