A group blog of scholars exploring Indian philosophy
I hope that readers will bear with me while I keep on exploiting the metaphor of wrestling with the angel. There are a few more indications, in fact, we can take out of it. First, Jacob fights. He does not Continue reading Wrestling with the angel: Fight all night (Further thoughts on intercultural philosophy)
Intercultural philosophy is based on a dialogue, i.e., not just on a sheer juxtaposition of monologues, since such a juxtaposition would not lead to any new result and both partners would not be able to gain anything out of it. Continue reading “Wrestling with the angel”
What to do with comparisons? They are always risky, insofar as one risks to style oneself as an impartial observer while being in fact part of the discussion. Hence, should not one avoid them altogether?
Suppose you spent a long time (weeks, months, perhaps even years) understanding a complicated topic. You then write an article or a book about it. Where should you start from? Should you explain all or just assume to have readers Continue reading How much should you explain in an article?
Just imagine you are asked about the three most important texts in South Asian philosophy and take a minute to imagine your answer. You are also allowed to include texts on South Asian philosophy, if you think they are relevant. Continue reading What are the most important books in and on South Asian philosophy?
From time to time and never by scholars, I am confronted with some variant of this question: “Why bother to look at material from South Asia, when there is so much interesting stuff in our” tradition?”. As examples for the Continue reading Why bother to look at material from South Asia, when there is so much interesting stuff in “our” tradition?
Most readers will already be familiar with the deep and entertaining interviews of the 3:AM Magazine. Here I would like to express my kudos to Richard Marshall and the 3:AM project for their inclusion of scholars working on South Asian Continue reading 3:AM interviews on South Asian philosophy UPDATED
The main thing which stroke me when I started working on the theory of emotions in Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta is that emotions can be useful and are not to be avoided. In other words, unlike some Sāṅkhya-Yoga philosophers, the Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta Continue reading Emotions in Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta philosophy: Distance and closeness
If you write on Plato, you should start in medias res. If you write on Thomas Aquinas, you can do the same (unless you are writing for a journal specialising on something completely different, say, business ethics). If you write Continue reading Writing on South Asian Philosophy? A few tips for younger colleagues
In case you missed it, I would like to recommend a website on philosophy of action which is a great single go-to page for almost anything related to the topic. It offers links, biographies, encyclopedic entries, essays, videos and learning Continue reading Philosophy of action