Friends, Volume 14.2 of the American Philosophy Association’s Newsletter on Asian and Asian American Philosophers and Philosophies is out, co-edited by Prasanta Bandyopadhyay and yours truly.
The contributors include established philosophers in our field like Stephen Phillips and Graham Priest, as well as some younger philosophers and cultural historians.
In the next month or so, I hope to make separate posts on some of the issues discussed in the newsletter, probably starting with Phillips’ idea that Vācaspatimiśra is really not a mere scholastic or academic whose work is limited by whatever school he is considering at the time but rather a thinker who is developing his own theses in his work, which range across the schools.
Congratulations, Matthew! May I ask you to give us some “behind the curtains” details, such as how you started thinking about the issue, whom you invited, why, what was the editorial work like and so on? (If it is a too personal question, I apologise.)
Thanks, Elisa! Really, Prasanta asked me to join him as co-editor after there was already some momentum for the volume. I think that he, with some guidance or advice from Jay Garfield, had been in talks with some of the contributors already. I helped edit the contributions and conceptualize how the volume (and the next, with other contributions) would be put together. We tried to cast a wide net, to include what we identified as three of the major currents of scholarship into Indian philosophy: (i) excavation of classical thought, often in conversation with modern philosophy, (ii) reflection on how political and cultural forces have influenced the Western reception of Indian philosophy and (iii) the study of modern and contemporary Indian philosophy. These currents aren’t exhaustive, but they are three of the major areas of inquiry.
Thank you, Matthew, very interesting. I imagine that the next issue will be dedicated to the third current, won’t it? As I am starting to organise a conference on contemporary Indian philosophy, I look forward for reading it.
You are correct, and thanks again.
This is really interesting. I didn’t know the APA had this function. I look forward to reading the articles.