An interview with Anand Vaidya

Anand Vaidya is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Center for Comparative Philosophy at San Jose State University, and one of this site’s bloggers. His work is in epistemology, philosophy of mind, and critical thinking–all of which he Continue reading An interview with Anand Vaidya

What counts as philosophy? On the normative disguised as descriptive UPDATED

As a scholar of Prābhākara Mīmāṃsā I am well aware of how the normative is often disguised as descriptive. “It is seven o’ clock” says the mother, but what she means is rather “Get up! You have to go to Continue reading What counts as philosophy? On the normative disguised as descriptive UPDATED

Introduction to Philosophy and/or Philosophy of Mind

I am considering to co-teach a course with a philosopher at the University of Florida, one in which we’d look at Indian and Western writings on the same topics, e.g. mind, self, epistemology, etc. These interdisciplinary courses are given special Continue reading Introduction to Philosophy and/or Philosophy of Mind

On al-Ghazālī and the cultural specificity of philosophy

[Cross-posted at Love of All Wisdom.] A little while ago, responding to Garfield and Van Norden’s call for diversity in philosophy, I argued that we should fight for the inclusion of non-Western thought in philosophy programs on the grounds of Continue reading On al-Ghazālī and the cultural specificity of philosophy

Where is Philosophy?: A Response to Nicholas Tampio

Last week there was a call from political science professor Nicholas Tampio to narrowly define philosophy as a discipline responding either directly to Plato’s Republic or at least part of a self-consciously Socratic-Platonic tradition of inquiry.  I recommend reading Tampio’s essay, “Not Continue reading Where is Philosophy?: A Response to Nicholas Tampio

Dialog across Traditions (part I)

(As a consequence of the discussion which took place here, Debajyoti Gangopadhyay updated the structure and concept of the “dialog” project.) Description: This Dialog mission is intended basically to make sense of a single question, which started getting shaped since Continue reading Dialog across Traditions (part I)

Epistemology and Comparative Philosophy in Confluence and the APA Blog

At the beginning of the month, there was an interdisciplinary conference in Kanazawa, Japan–the International Conference on Ethno-Epistemology – Culture, Language, and Methodology. Jonardon Ganeri gave a keynote presentation, “Pluralism about Epistemic Cultures” and Anand Vaidya, along with Purushottama Billimoria, gave Continue reading Epistemology and Comparative Philosophy in Confluence and the APA Blog

The West within the rest

Cross-posted at Love of All Wisdom. In the previous post I discussed why academic philosophers have usually focused on the West, and pointed out reasons why some amount of Western focus remains valuable. Above all, I noted: “we are always Continue reading The West within the rest

Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy Annual Conference (June 2-5, 2016)

Malcolm Keating recently posted here on the blog about the East-West Philosophers’ Conference, which concluded yesterday.  For those remaining in Honolulu, or just arriving, there is another conference starting tomorrow: the Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy Annual Conference.  The Continue reading Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy Annual Conference (June 2-5, 2016)