Of course, there's a political edge to your question which used to be called the culture wars. One forceful voice that we should continue on a path of continuity with our past is Allan Bloom in his The Closing of the American Mind. I leave you with an essay about the book and its influence (s-usih.org) from the popular media. Of course, the "Western canon" is not any one standard, but a general historical preference. My views neglect philosophy of India, China, and Japan mostly out of my lack of philosophical ignorance and strong interest in analytical philosophy. Also, the views I present here weight antiquityfavor Antiquity, the medieval eraMedieval Era, and modernModern philosophy, and neglect postmodernPostmodernist philosophy. There's also a modern political and stylistic distinction between the contemporary analytic and Continental activity.
