This captivating new book, a milestone in Buddhist and comparative studies, is a compilation of seventeen essays celebrating the work and thought of Nolan Pliny Jacobson.

A profoundly motivated interdisciplinary thinker, Jacobson sought to discover, clarify, and synthesize points of similarity among leading thinkers of different Oriental and Western cultures. For almost half a century, he articulated his vision of an emerging world civilization, one in which all people can feel and express their creative, constructive powers for the benefit of others as well as for themselves.

Jacobson believed that philosophy and the works of philosophers should be understood as a vital force enriching all civilizational experience. His own philosophic perspective was rooted in the conviction that novelty is the source of all experience and the center of a creativity that lives beyond words, arguments, and rational paradigms. Throughout his career, Jacobson explored Buddhist texts and personalities, spending much time in the Orient, particularly Myanmar and Japan. He also closely studied the works of numerous Western philosophers, including Whitehead, Dewey, Peirce, James, Hartshorne, and Wieman. Jacobson believed that American philosophy and Buddhism concurred in many ways, with the potential to form a powerful basis for the development of a world civilization.

The essays in this volume are organized around Jacobson’s activities, publications, and interests. Authored by an impressive selection of scholars, the essays are grouped into four sections—"Historical Context," "Central Issues," "Practical Implications," and "The Japan Emphasis." Hajime Nakamura, Charles Hartshorne, Kenneth K. Inada, Seizo Oho, and numerous others discuss freedom, creativity, and Buddhism’s self-corrective nature, setting forth their reasons for sharing Jacobson’s ideas and visions.

Ramakrishna Puligandla is a professor of philosophy at the University of Toledo.Among his published works are Fact and Fiction in B. F. Skinner’s Science and Utopia, An Examination of the Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Theory, Fundamentals of Indian Philosophy, An Encounter with Awareness, and Jñana Yoga.

David Lee Miller is professor and chair of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin—La Crosse. He is the author of Philosophy of Creativity and numerous essays investigating the nature of creativity.

"This book is a wonderful tribute to the studies, achievements, ideas, and hopes of Nolan Pliny Jacobson. A creative naturalistic philosopher who drew on such diverse sources as Marxism, the pragmatist John Dewey, the theist Reinhold Niebuhr, the process philosophers Henry Nelson Wieman and Charles Hartshorne, and Buddhism, Jacobson clarified and developed the meaning and relevance of the experience of creativity for human civilization worldwide. Jacobson’s acute consciousness of ‘the wonder of being vividly and memorably alive’ is an experience well worth sharing with people everywhere. Also worth sharing are his methods of dealing with pervasive and enduring problems and his practical ideas about responding to them. This book helps make itpossible for others to share his ideas and respond to his suggestions."—Lewis E. Hahn, editor of The Library of Living Philosophers