A group blog of scholars exploring Indian philosophy
B. K. Matilal (1935-1991) was undoubtedly one of the most influential scholars of Indian philosophy in the late 20th century. His work has greatly influenced many of us who work on Indian philosophy today, especially if we do so in Continue reading The Matilal Strategy
The following is an expanded version of the introduction to my paper, “Renunciation, Pleasure, and the Good Life in the Saṃnyāsa Upaniṣads,” forthcoming in Philosophy East and West (July 2017). The Saṃnyāsa Upaniṣads characterize the life of the saṃnyāsin (renunciate) Continue reading Renunciation and the Good Life
A reader (Robert Gressis) asked me to give him some advice for a class on philosophy of religion in which he would (admirably) like to insert something more than “the typical western philosophy of religion”. He would be interested in Continue reading Ultimate reality in Hinduism, Buddhism (etc.): Some suggestions for a possible syllabus
My friend Stephen Harris recently posted an interesting article on the question of whether Śāntideva’s ethics is “overdemanding”. I appreciate the article’s methodological approach. It engages Śāntideva’s ethics with the categories of analytical moral philosophy while moving beyond the relatively Continue reading Does Śāntideva’s theory make demands?
The Eleventh East-West Philosophers’ Conference will be held in Honolulu, Hawai’i on May 24-31, 2016. The theme of the conference is “Place.” The deadline for panel and paper submissions is November 1, 2015. Please see the Call for Papers at Continue reading Eleventh East-West Philosophers’ Conference: May 24-31, 2016
Well, yes… isn’t it? The problem is less easy than it may look like and amounts to the problem of non-committal understanding. Is it the normal attitude while listening to a speaker or just an exception or an a posteriori Continue reading Can one understand a sentence without believing its content to be the case?
Ullrich Haase, editor of the Journal of the British Society of Phenomenology has announced a selection of free articles from past issues: Special Online Issue of the JBSP: The Editor’s Pick: 33 Essays from 1970 – 2014 Dear Philosophers, Phenomenologists, Continue reading JBSP celebrates its 46th year with free articles, including a classic from J.N. Mohanty
Graham Priest explains in a blog post why one should study “Eastern” philosophy (his label, probably because standard philosophy is in fact “Western” philosophy). His post points to two reasons: One better understands one’s own culture if one is confronted Continue reading Graham Priest on why study Asian philosophy
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. Link here: http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.apaonline.org/resource/collection/2EAF6689-4B0D-4CCB-9DC6-FB926D8FF530/AsianV14n2.pdf The contributors include established philosophers in our field like Stephen Phillips Continue reading Latest volume of the American Philosophy Association’s Newsletter on Asian and Asian American Philosophers and Philosophies
Don Howard recently uploaded an interesting paper on cross-cultural philosophy on academia.edu. The paper discusses stimulating topics, such as why we* react ackwardly when we hear of “African philosophy” or “Native American philosophy” and why these labels sound like a Continue reading Is there “African Philosophy”? Or just Greek, German…and Indian Philosophy?