A group blog of scholars exploring Indian philosophy
As promised, this (a bit belated) post summarizes some talks from the October 2015 Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy in Monterey, CA. To keep the post brief, I’m choosing to discuss only those SACP talks which I attended, have Continue reading Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy 2015
Over at NDPR, Mark Siderits reviews The Moon Points Back, an edited volume by the Cowherds (Koji Tanaka, Yasuo Deguchi, Jay Garfield and Graham Priest). From the review: The papers illustrate the relative maturity and fruitfulness of a project that Garfield characterizes Continue reading The Moon Points Back: Review at NDPR
I published an essay about five and a half years ago on an alternative reading of Nāgārjuna’s MMK 24:18 (PEW 60:1) which was first disputed by Jay Garfield and Jan Westerhoff a year later (PEW 61:1) and then by Mattia Continue reading Another Attempt at Nāgārjuna’s MMK 24:18
[Cross-posted at Love of All Wisdom.] I was honoured to see Elisa Freschi’s post reviewing my recent article on Śāntideva’s metaphysics and ethics. I have a lot to say about both the post itself and the comment threads that followed Continue reading Reading the deconstruction of the body
Jay L. Garfield. Engaging Buddhism: Why It Matters to Philosophy. xxii + 376 pp., index. NY: Oxford University Press, 2015. $29.95 (paperback). My job in reviewing this book is made much easier by something Garfield says early on: ‘Mark Siderits Continue reading Book Review of Engaging Buddhism: Why It Matters to Philosophy by Jay L. Garfield (Reviewed by Mark Siderits)
What does jñāpaka mean? Literally it means ‘what causes to know’ and if you have been working on Sanskrit śāstra you will most probably immediately think of Sanskrit Grammar. Patañjali uses this term in this sense of “an indirect or Continue reading Jñāpaka in Sanskrit and Pāli Grammar
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
In an article available open access online (thanks for this altruistic move, Amod!), Amod recently discussed a challenging topic, namely whether there is a link between metaphysical issues and ethics in Buddhist philosophy. More precisely, he focused on Śāntideva’s* Bodhicāryāvatāra Continue reading Amod Lele on Śāntideva and the impact of metaphysics on ethics
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?