About Us

The SJSU Center for Comparative Philosophy was formally established in October 2007 as an Organized Research Unit of San Jose State University, a research center in the College of Humanities and the Arts at SJSU.

Leadership

Mission

The Center for Comparative Philosophy ('the CCP' or 'CCP at SJSU' for short) is an Organized Research Unit of San Jose State University, USA, established in 2007 that aims at promoting and enhancing the research and scholarship at SJSU in comparative philosophy (doing philosophy in a cross-tradition engaging way) for the sake of contributing to the academic mission of SJSU and the international scholarship of comparative philosophy.

Comparative philosophy considers philosophy in a global context and through the constructive engagement of philosophies from around the globe. One central concern of comparative philosophy is to inquire into how, via reflective criticism (including self-criticism) and argumentation and with the guidance of adequate methodological guiding principles, distinct approaches and resources from different philosophical traditions (whether distinguished culturally or by style and orientation) can talk to, engage with and learn from each other and jointly contribute to the development of philosophy and of contemporary society on a range of reflective issues and topics of philosophical value and significance, which can be jointly concerned through appropriate philosophical interpretation and from a broader philosophical vantage point.

The CCP pursues the foregoing goal through a variety of academic activities that include, but are not limited to, organizing conferences/workshops, roundtable discussions or lectures and coordinating relevant international academic cooperation and exchange.

Comparative philosophy as explored by the CCP can also provide relevant theoretic and methodological resources concerning how to look at distinct approaches and/or different intellectual pursuits to jointly-concerned issues and topics for their joint contributions within and/or between humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. In this way, through its scholarship resources and academic activities, the CCP can substantially contribute to cross-approach investigation and interdisciplinary explorations beyond boundaries; it can also thus enhance mutual understanding and constructively learning from each other among various communities on campus.