[Buddha-l] Liberal arts technophobia [was: Shingon sutras]

[Jim Peavler]

On Oct 22, 2005, at 8:25 AM, Richard P. Hayes wrote:

> As long as we are marvelling at philosophers, I like to think that the
> study of philosophy should make a person broad-minded. What I have 
> found
> almost everywhere, however, is that philosophers have almost no
> curiosity about Asian philosophy, and many don't even think of it as
> philosophy at all.

Once, near the shores of the Pacific, I taught a class called "Western 
Civilization". Part of my opening day discussions was to ask why this 
was called "Western Civilization" instead of "Civilization", and just 
what might be some differences between "Western" Civilization and, 
perhaps, "Eastern" Civilization. Throughout the course I would 
occasionally mention something that was going on in Asia or the 
Americas, or somewhere at the same time as our current subject. Each 
semester at least one student protested that too much time had been 
spent on "Eastern" thought, which was, of course, irrelevant.  It was 
even harder to understand than the desire of the US Marines (who often 
made up the bulk of the classes) to have the course be about "kings, 
generals, and wars".