A group blog of scholars exploring Indian philosophy
I’m continuing to examine Justin Whitaker‘s interpretation of Pali Buddhist ethics as Kantian moral law. I argued last time that the concept of dhamma does not serve in these texts as a universal, trans-human moral law. Here I want to Continue reading Karmic punishment is not a good thing
“Omniscience” (sārvajñya) assumes many different meanings in the various Indian philosophies. The understanding possibly most common in European and Anglo-American thought, which sees omniscience as including the knowledge of any possible thing in the past, present and future, is neither Continue reading First thoughts on omniscience in Indian thought
In his interesting recent Buddhism and Political Theory, Matthew Moore sums up current scholarly work on Buddhist ethics noting “There are several major debates ongoing in the field, particularly whether early Buddhist ethics are better understood as consequentialist or a Continue reading The dhamma is not a transcendent law
As I noted last time, I think the disregard of ethics by Indian-philosophy scholars like Dan Arnold is a problem in itself: it’s a misconception of what philosophy is, and one that harmfully shrinks the field of the study of Continue reading The significance of ethics to Candrakīrti’s metaphysics
It is commonplace today for scholars of Indian philosophy to focus their attention entirely on theoretical philosophy at the expense of the practical. I think this tendency is a mistake. I see at least two grave problems with it. First: Continue reading Don’t exclude ethics from philosophy
Cross-posted at Love of All Wisdom. A friend read the previous post on ibn Sīnā and Śāntideva and asked (on Google+) what exactly I meant by “incompleteness”. It was a great question and made me realize there was a bit Continue reading Incompleteness in knowledge and existence
There’s a new resource for philosophy teachers called The Deviant Philosopher. The site is developed by a team from the University of Oklahoma, which includes Amy Olberding, Wayne Riggs, Kelly Epley, and Seth Robertson. From the site: The Deviant Philosopher is a Continue reading New Resource: The Deviant Philosopher
Scholars of all types of philosophy are fond of referring to philosophical traditions. But what does this mean? What counts as a tradition? In the Indian context one way to discuss a tradition is with the word darśana, which literally means Continue reading What Counts as a Tradition in Indian Philosophy?: The Case of Skepticism
Cross-posted at Love of All Wisdom. I’ve been thinking lately about MacIntyre’s explanation of the Muslim philosopher ibn Sīnā and the ways in which ibn Sīnā’s concept of God requires us to rethink the entire world around us if we Continue reading ibn Sīnā and Śāntideva on the incompleteness of the world
Jacob P. Dalton. The Gathering of Intentions: A History of A Tibetan Tantra. xxvi + 246 pp.. New York: Columbia University Press. $ 60.00 (Hardcover). This book could be seen as a novel method of tracing the history of a Continue reading Book Review of The Gathering of Intentions: A History of a Tibetan Tantra by Jacob P. Dalton (Reviewed by Swami Narasimhananda)