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74A Comparative History of World Philosophy: From the Upanishads to KantState University of New York Press. 1998.Breaks through the cultural barriers between Western, Indian, and Chinese philosophy and demonstrates that despite considerable differences between these three great philosophical traditions, there are fundamental resemblances in their abstract principles
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35The Dilemma of ContextNYU Press. 1989.In The Dilemma of Context, Scharfstein contends that the problems encountered with context are insoluble. He explains why this problem lays an intellectual burden on us that, while remaining inescapable,can become so heavy it destroys the understandingit was created to further.
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Los filósofos y sus vidas. Para una historia psicológica de la filosofíaRevista Portuguesa de Filosofia 43 (1): 218-220. 1987.
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Rationality in Question. On Eastern and Western views of rationality. Leiden: EJ BrillIn Nand Kishore Devaraja (ed.), Philosophy and religion, Indian Institute of Advanced Study in Association With Indus Pub. Co.. pp. 1. 1989.
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113On The Transparency and Opacity of PhilosophersThe Monist 71 (3): 455-464. 1988.Sometimes our thought is transparently clear. It is as if we were looking through a window whose clarity was an invitation for the world to come in. The pleasure we take in thinking transparent thoughts is like that we take in the unimpeded use of any ability; but such transparency is unique in that it suggests easy communication with oneself and others, the ability to nullify problems by seeing through them, and a clean, physically effortless mastery of life.
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113How important is truth to epistemology and knowledge? Some answers from comparative philosophySocial Epistemology 15 (4). 2001.(2001). How important is truth to epistemology and knowledge? Some answers from comparative philosophy. Social Epistemology: Vol. 15, No. 4, pp. 275-283.
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49Amoral Politics: The Persistent Truth of MachiavellismState University of New York Press. 1995.After exploring the theory and practice of politics in ancient China, ancient India, and modern Europe, Scharfstein argues that the justification for deception and force is inseparable from political life and assesses the chances for a better political future
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40The Mind of China: The Culture, Customs, and Beliefs of Traditional ChinaPhilosophy East and West 25 (4): 492-493. 1975.
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66Roots of Bergson's philosophyColumbia university press. 1943.ROOTS OF BERGSONS PHILOSOPHY Ben-Ami Scharfstein ROOTS OF BERGSONS PHILOSOPHY NEW YORK MCMXLIII COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS To My Father and Mother ...
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Epilogue: How death deals with philosophyIn Hagi Kenaan & Ilit Ferber (eds.), Philosophy's moods: the affective grounds of thinking, Springer. 2011.
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65Letters to the editorHistory and Philosophy of Logic 4 (1-2): 221-224. 1983.One of the books submitted for review to this journal was B.?A. Scharfstein's The philosophers: their lives and the nature of their thought (1980, Oxford). Although not explicitly concerned with logic, it raised various questions for history and historiography (possibilities for psycho-history, for example). Thus I sought a review, which was written by P. Loptson and published in volume 3 (1982), 105?107. The ensuing correspondence has been edited for publication by me, with the authors? approva…Read more
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80The philosophers: their lives and the nature of their thoughtOxford University Press. 1980.The adventure I am now undertaking is an appraisal of my profession, philosophy, of my fellow professionals, the philosophers, and, finally of myself at least ...
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40The Contextual FallacyIn Richard Rorty (ed.), Review of I nterpreting Across Boundaries: New Essays in Comparative Philosophy, University of Hawaii Press. pp. 84-97. 1989.
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42Philosophy East, Philosophy WestRevue Philosophique de la France Et de l'Etranger 170 (4): 465-466. 1980.
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43Ineffability: The Failure of Words in Philosophy and ReligionSUNY Press. 1993.Scharfstein describes the extraordinary powers that have been attributed to language everywhere, and then looks at ineffability as it has appeared in the thought of the great philosophical cultures: India, China, Japan, and the West. He argues that there is something of our prosaic, everyday difficulty with words in the ineffable reality of the philosophers and theologians, just as there is something unformulable, and finally mysterious in the prosaic, everyday successes and failures of words.
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76Art without borders: a philosophical exploration of art and humanityUniversity of Chicago Press. 2009.Lucid, learned, and incomparably rich in thought and detail, Art Without Borders is a monumental accomplishment, on par with the artistic achievements ...
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118Salvation By Parad Ox : On Zen and Zen-Like ThoughtJournal of Chinese Philosophy 3 (3): 209-234. 1976.
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48The Nonsense of Kant and Lewis Carroll: Unexpected Essays on Philosophy, Art, Life, and DeathUniversity of Chicago Press. 2014.What if Immanuel Kant floated down from his transcendental heights, straight through Alice’s rabbit hole, and into the fabulous world of Lewis Carroll? For Ben-Ami Scharfstein this is a wonderfully instructive scenario and the perfect way to begin this wide-ranging collection of decades of startlingly synthesized thought. Combining a deep knowledge of psychology, cultural anthropology, art history, and the history of religions—not to mention philosophy—he demonstrates again and again the unpredi…Read more
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51Of Birds, Beasts, and Other Artists: An Essay on the Universality of ArtPhilosophy East and West 40 (4): 574-578. 1990.