The role of manas in perception according to Kumārila

Manas plays multiple roles for Kumārila and it is important to keep them apart: manas connecting sense faculty to ātman while sensing an external object (see ŚV pratyakṣa 160ab) manas working itself as a sense faculty for pain and pleasure Continue reading The role of manas in perception according to Kumārila

John Dewey’s Pragmatism and India (Special Issue of Dewey Studies)

Here is a message from Scott Stroud (University of Texas at Austin) about a new special issue of the journal Dewey Studies focused on John Dewey’s pragmatism and India. The first special issue of a journal dedicated to exploring John Continue reading John Dewey’s Pragmatism and India (Special Issue of Dewey Studies)

You still have to naturalize karma

Karin Meyers’s work on the “damned topics” of Buddhist philosophy is most powerful on the topic of rebirth. Because that’s the place where there’s actually some reasonably powerful evidence for the “damned topic”. Where I think she goes too far Continue reading You still have to naturalize karma

On the damned topics of Buddhist philosophy

American University philosopher Karin Meyers made an important contribution to Buddhist philosophical studies with her 2016 essay “The damned topics of Buddhist philosophy“. The essay (available free online) has never been formally published, though it clearly deserves to be: when Continue reading On the damned topics of Buddhist philosophy

Passages of death and hope

My father’s memorial service was last weekend. The event was wonderful, bringing together friends and family I hadn’t seen in decades. It was heartwarming to see colleagues, neighbours, Canadian family, Indian family, American family share their fond recollections of him. Continue reading Passages of death and hope

Ambedkar Prize Established by the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy (SAAP)

We recently received the following information from Scott Stroud (University of Texas at Austin) on behalf of the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy (SAAP). This prize is an exciting way to recognize the some of the many philosophical Continue reading Ambedkar Prize Established by the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy (SAAP)

“The future will belong to the mestiza”

Unlike “progressive” Americans who embrace race, the caste reformer B.R. Ambedkar envisioned a world where race/caste distinctions were annihilated – and specifically by mixing, by intermarriage. The view of racial purity shared by the mainstream American left and right – Continue reading “The future will belong to the mestiza”

Kumārila and the limits of perception

According to Kumārila, much can be sense-perceived. It goes without saying that sensible qualities can be sense-perceived, but Kumārila thinks that we can also sense-perceive the substance behind the sense-qualities (that is, the substrate of the sense-qualities). He also thinks Continue reading Kumārila and the limits of perception