As THE WORLD tends to become a self-conscious unity and evolves a life of its own in commerce, science, literature, and social relations, the question of a world philosophy becomes more and more insistent and urgent. But what do we really mean by world philosophy? Has philosophy not always been universal? Undoubtedly, it has. The subject-matter of physics is universal, and so are its laws. In the same manner, philosophers in Greece or India or China or modern Europe or America have reflected on the same life and existence, and their answers as representations of truth on the matter must have a universal validity. This is also borne out by the experience of students of one country seeking to understand the philosophy of another country or of one cultural epoch trying to understand that of another cultural epoch. Indian students and scholars are able to appreciate and benefit from the study of Greek philosophers, and Western students are able to appreciate and benefit from the thought of India and China. And yet, the philosophies of Greece, India, China, and the modern West have strong distinctive characteristics. They all, no doubt, deal with the same life and existence, but life and existence are complex, vast, and variable, and, therefore, the philosophies also have been different and divergent. The life-experience of a nation or people naturally becomes limited and qualified by its external situation, its temperament, the process of its historical growth, and the quality of its great personalities. In consequence, the exact subjectmatter of philosophy in life-experience becomes a distinctive fact. Further, even when the experiences are similar, the approaches can be different. Thus, there is clearly a sense in which the philosophies of these different countries must be considered national, or as belonging to one cultural field or territorial area. However, it is possible to distinguish between problems of essential existence and those of cultural life as such. It is also possible to conceive that in regard to problems of essential existence a philosopher might pursue his research in great independence of the predilections of character and intellect created in him by his cultural upbringing. Here, in