Lexington Books
Pages: 238
•
Trim: 6¼ x 9½
978-1-4985-3138-2 • Hardback • December 2017 • $117.00 • (£90.00)
978-1-4985-3140-5 • Paperback • June 2019 • $50.99 • (£39.00)
Alexus McLeod is assistant professor at the University of Connecticut.
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction—The World of Maya Thought
Chapter One—Calendrics, Ritual, and Organization
Chapter Two—Reductionism vs. Correlativism
Chapter Three—Worlds and the Question of Essence and Truth
Chapter Four—Personhood and Identity
Conclusion—Maya Philosophy and World Philosophy
Bibliography
Philosophy of the Ancient Maya is a brilliant book and a labor of love. Alexus McLeod is a rare mind: deeply curious, linguistically gifted, a sensitive detector of similarity and difference, with deep grasp of classical Chinese philosophy, contemporary analytic philosophy, and Mayan Philosophy. Philosophy of the Ancient Maya is a crystal clear introduction to the metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical wisdom of this great meso-American civilization that makes the reader examine their own cultural assumptions. A treasure.
— Owen Flanagan, James B. Duke University professor of philosophy, Duke University, author, How to Do Things with Emotions: The Morality of Anger and Shame Across Cultures
This is a groundbreaking work! McLeod is the first philosopher to treat the Mayans seriously as systematic philosophical thinkers. This book is a significant contribution to the multicultural philosophy movement. McLeod’s work is sure to have as great an influence as James Maffie’s seminal Aztec Philosophy. The neglect of Indigenous Philosophy in our universities is indefensible, and McLeod has done a great service by making Mayan thought available to students, professors, and general readers.
— Bryan W. Van Norden, author of Taking Back Philosophy: A Multicultural Manifesto
It is an exciting time in philosophy! Philosophers are starting to explore traditions that have been ignored by the Anglophone world. And Alexus McLeod is at the head of the pack. He has provided a lucid analysis of the distinctive theories of time and personhood that emerged in Mayan philosophy; and he has articulated several points of fruitful convergence between this tradition and the Early Chinese tradition. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in expanding their understanding of what philosophy can be, and to anyone who is intrigued by the idea of a transformative metaphysics, which includes both substances and processes—without giving either a privileged ontological status.
— Bryce Huebner, Georgetown University