A self-declared “manifesto,” Bryan W. Van Norden's Taking Back Philosophy is purposely controversial and provocative. The goal of this book is to convince philosophy professors and departments, who are the book's primary target audience, that they must engage with non-Western philosophy.
The book opens with Jay Garfield's foreword and description of the unfortunate state of academic philosophy in the United States today. A very tiny minority of PhD degree-granting universities in the country offer programs that can train graduate students in non-Western philosophy. Typical reasons from philosophy professors include: they are not familiar with non-Western philosophies or languages, and therefore cannot teach them; there is not enough room for teaching Western philosophy as it is, so letting in other cultures is impossible; and other cultures do not produce philosophy. Such views have been expressed in recent years, as well as over the course of the past several centuries, in racist...
