Reddit mentions of Aztec Thought and Culture: A Study of the Ancient Nahuatl Mind (Volume 67) (The Civilization of the American Indian Series)

I like this book because it has their poetry
"All our gods are dead"- fav line
and
"Where is your mind?
Where is your heart?
If you give your heart to each and everything, you lead it nowhere"

https://www.amazon.com/Aztec-Thought-Culture-Civilization-American/dp/0806122951

While the Wikipedia article does give us a broad perspective of the matter, it's important to aknowledge that the 'primary sources' quoted are still those of the colonizares and missionaries whose interpretations of the indigenous informers could be heavliy biased by the catholic view from that time.

To fully grasp the fenomena of sacrifice among mesoamerican societies (including the most popular, Mexica) I recomend the work of Miguel León-Portilla Aztec Thought and Culture and Alfredo López Austin Human Body and Ideology, both of them considered the biggest authorities regarding mesoamerican studies because their primary sources are not only the prehispanic codex but also the indigenous people that are alive in Mexico today.

Just for the sake of summarize: in mesoamerican cosmogony the life and death cicle desn't have the 'good' vs 'bad' connotations of cristianity, and gods doesn't work as allegories of the human's deepest impulses as in greek mythology. Even Jospeh Campbell notices these distinctions. The role of death is rather a transitionary state between the "physically incarnated world" and the other world that exists beyond human perception. One's truest essence, teyolia, that resides precisely in the heart is the only part of ourselves that can travel through the "other realms" not to purified our sins or to seek eternity, but to serve the gods in order to sustain the existence of the living world. In other words, death only means another way to maintain life. Sacrificed people are still serving the gods in this cosmovision.

So, yes. Sacrifice -at least among mesoamerican cultures- had heavily religious connotations, and its political aspects were indeed those of dominance tools, but not as instruments of fear as you may think (as depicted in the movie Apocalypto) but rather as an assertion of which group of people or tribe was more worthy of the favor of the gods. That's why captured* warriors accepted sacrifice with dignity; they knew they failed to their tribes, but afterlife they would be working for the gods anyway.

Pd. English is not my native language so I hope this text is legible enough.

*The objective of a war was to capture enemies, no to kill them.

To bayesmarkobgauss:

Almost all pre-modern philosophy blurred the line between religion and philosophy.

And there are many philosophers from Africa. Probably the most famous African philosopher (especially in the West) is Augustine. The most famous 20th century African philosopher (and one of the most famous post-colonialism thinkers in general) is Frantz Fanon. One of the more famous pre-modern African philosophers is the Ethiopian Zera Yaqob (not to be confused with the emperor of the same name).

There was also a large tradition of wisdom literature in Ancient Egypt. The Book of Proverbs was influenced by it. The Eloquent Peasant could also be considered philosophy.

Also, the Inca definitely had philosophers, who were called amawtakuna.

_____

To OP: there have been philosophers from all places. In addition to what the places I said, there are the Muslim Averroes, Avicenna, Ibn Arabi, Al-Farabi, Al-Ghazali; the Jewish Maimonidies, Ibn Ezra (Abraham), Qoheleth, Halevi, Philo; the Chinese Mozi, Zhuangzi, [Mencius]
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mencius), Zhu Xi, Huineng; the Indian Shankara, Nagarjuna, Kautilya, Abhinavagupta, Ramanuja; the Japanese Dogen, Ito Jinsai, Nichiren, Honen, Kukai. There are many more modern Eastern philosophers, I just tried to list mostly pre-modern. These people have also influenced Western philosophers. Schopenhauer and the transcendentalists liked Indian philosophy, Averroes and Avicenna were well-known in Medieval Europe, and Pythagoras is said to have traveled to Egypt.

Philosophy is not limited to Eurasia though. The Aztec tlamatinime had a rich tradition of philosophy, as you can read in Miguel Leon-Portilla's great book or here (EDIT: I just remembered, Nezahualcoyotl is one of the people mentioned many times in the book). Vine Deloria Jr. was a great 20th century Native American philosopher. There are also many books written on Native American philosophy that you can find, or I can suggest.

As for why you thought that, most non-Western philosophers have been ignored. This is the case for most non-Western artists and thinkers. The history behind this is modern European conceptions of European superiority (though this wasn't completely clear-cut, as Russians, Irish people, and Turks are European). And while it could be argued this superiority is still embedded in the consciousness, this legacy has left a tradition that makes it easy to stick with. Because of the language similarities, the numerous manuscripts, and the cultural familiarity, it's just easier for Westerners to stick with the same philosophers. It's creates a simple narrative, and its easy to digest, especially for younger students.

My interests? Anything "nerdy" or "geeky", so to speak... tabletop roleplaying games, reading, comic books, video games... whatever. I also enjoy crafting and sewing, so that's fun.

What I love doing in my offtime is planning parties. I love planning them, from the deocorations to the guest lists to food and drink.

The perfect summer day is a lazy one, involving a hammock in the shade under the trees on a breezy sunny day, with a cool glass of sweet tea or raspberry lemonade and a good book. You can hear the rustling of the leaves, and in the distance, children shouting in glee and splashing in pools or through sprinklers.

This book would make my perfect summer day-- I'm a nerd and mesoamerican culture and history is my focus in school... yes, I know school, but it's my focus because I genuinely love it. So if I were lazing in a hammock, if I wasn't reading a fantasy novel, I would likely be reading about the Aztecs, Mayas, or Olmecs (and doodling notes).

Pandora's Mystery Summer Box of Goodies

Ahhuatl's suggestions are great, and the Florentine Codex (especially Book 1) is pretty much your authoritative source. Leon-Portilla is another great resource and you may want to check out his Aztec Thought and Culture if you ever want a scholarly look at the philosophy of Aztec religion.

If you're looking for the myths themselves though, you may want to check out Taube and Miller's Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya. It is a dictionary/encyclopedia though, so it may be kind of dry. Carrasco's Daily Life of the Aztecs doesn't directly tell the myths but does feature large passages on important rituals (and is just a good book overall).

I love Miguel León-Portilla! You might consider reading his:

• Aztec Thought and Culture: A Study of the Ancient Nahuatl Mind
  
  
• In the Language of Kings: An Anthology of Mesoamerican Literature, Pre-Columbian to the Present.
  
  For visual art, the show catalog, Courtly Art of the Ancient Maya is amazing.

If you've an interest in aztec philosophy theres a decent amount out there. I took a class in it at SFSU and was fairly blown away. i tried to find my copy of the syllabus for the class, but failed. Luckily, i didn't sell back some of the books, and i found one in particular on amazon i'd recommend:
http://www.amazon.com/Aztec-Thought-Culture-Civilization-American/dp/0806122951/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1311133270&sr=8-1