A group blog of scholars exploring Indian philosophy
I have spent a good deal of time criticizing the idea of a “perennial philosophy”, the idea (expressed by Ken Wilber and others before him) that the great sages of the world have always basically agreed on the really important Continue reading Perennial nondualism
Why do people obey to commands? Because they are immediately inclined, in a behaviourist way, to obey? Or because they realise that the action commanded is an instrument to the realisation of a coveted goal? Or are there further explanations? Continue reading Why do people respond to commands?
Maṇḍana’s thesis is an answer to the problem of how to identify the core of a prescription. What makes people undertake actions? Kumārila’s śabdabhāvanā theory and Prabhākara’s kāryavāda had already offered their answers. Maṇḍana expands on Kumārila’s intuition about human Continue reading Maṇḍana’s intellectual theory of motivation
Submitted to the blog by Satyan Sharma, Research scholar at the department of Sanskrit, Panjab University, (sharma.satyan@ymail.com) Because Time is not Self : On Ānandajñāna’s refutation of Kāla Abstract The conversation between Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika (NV) and Advaita Vedānta (AV) philosophers attract Continue reading Because Time is not Self : On Ānandajñāna’s refutation of Kāla, A guest post by Satyan Sharma
In a post here last week, I argued for an initial puzzle in the dharmasūtras of Āpastamba and Vasiṣṭha. Both authors argue that the four āśramas are equally legitimate. Their arguments for the importance of the householder, however, seem to Continue reading The Householder Debates in the Dharmasūtras: Another Solution
I’d like to now envision the book I am working on. This post is something like a proposal for the book, both to clarify my thoughts on it and (more importantly) to hear yours. As I write it I keep Continue reading A book on how virtue helps us flourish
Within chapter 11 of his masterpiece, the Vidhiviveka `Discernment about prescription’, Maṇḍana identifies the core element which causes people to undertake actions. Maṇḍana expands on Kumārila’s intuition about human behaviour being always goal-oriented by offering a radical reductionist hypothesis. According Continue reading A preliminary understanding of Maṇḍana’s pratibhā
(In the last months, the IPhblog has hosted a long discussion on Evan Thompson’s last book, Why I am not a Buddhist. We are grateful to the participants, namely Amod Lele and Evan Thompson himself for their patience and accuracy Continue reading Losing the Thread: A Response to Lele (Guest Post by Evan Thompson)
For some time now I have realized: it is time for me to write a book. It’s time to take ideas that I have circulated in blog-post form and develop them into a more systematic, coherent constructive argument. It has Continue reading Resolving cliffhangers in a book
The Indian tradition is replete with modeling of human experience. In the previous post I discussed how Sāṃkhya’s model of mind, body, and consciousness might be used to rethink the conceptualization of evolutionary theory and neuroscience. I argued that the Continue reading Natural and Artificial Intelligence, and Consciousness, Part II