A group blog of scholars exploring Indian philosophy
Yāmuna (967–1038 according to Mesquita 1973) is one of the chief figures of the philosophy later known as Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta. In fact, to me one of the most intriguing questions regards his role in the formation of this school. It Continue reading Was Yāmuna the real founder of Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta? (On Mesquita 1971 and 1973)
…or can one just say that his existence cannot be denied? During his commentary on Maṇḍana Miśra’s Vidhiviveka (henceforth VV), 1.14–15, Vācaspati Miśra focuses on the possibility of the existence of omniscients. Why so? Because the VV is a Mīmāṃsaka Continue reading Can one establish the existence of an omniscient?
As a scholar trained in Western Academia, one has at least three choices while dealing with Sanskrit Philosophy: One can treat it as if it were Western philosophy and discuss, e.g., of monotonic or non-monotonic logic in Nyāya, One can Continue reading Doing research on free will in Indian Philosophy
Once a month, I publish on my personal blog a post in Sanskrit. Last month, Matthew Dasti suggested to cross-post one here, too. Thus, if you enjoy what follows, praise Matthew, if you don’t blame me (or at least let Continue reading शब्दविषये रसेल(Russell)मत: संस्कृतायां वाचि निरूपितः
(apologies in advance for the lack of diacritics, I am home, ill, with no access to a unicode keyboard) The Sankarsakanda (henceforth SK, about which see here) is an enigmatic text thought to complete the Mimamsa Sastra, after the Purva Continue reading On Vyāsa and the authorship of the Saṅkarṣakāṇḍa
(apologies in advance for the lack of diacritics, I am home, ill, with no access to a unicode keyboard) Purva Mimamsa authors are generally not interested in the topic, whereas several Uttara Mimamsa (i.e. Vedanta) ones deal at length with Continue reading How many texts are comprised in the Mimamsa Sastra? And why is this relevant?
The starting point of every discussion on this book is that it is an amazing achievement: more than 160 pp. of translation of Dharmakīrti’s Pramāṇavārttika and Svavṛtti which will enhance further studies on Buddhist and non-Buddhist epistemology and, even more Continue reading Book note: Vincent Eltschinger’s “Penser l’autorité des Écritures”
How do reason and authority interact and trace each other’s boundaries? Which one is the first to be allowed to delimit its territory and, by means of that, also the other one’s one?
One facet of “Indian philosophy” that may be perfectly obvious, but is nevertheless worth talking about at the beginning stages of a blog dedicated to the subject, is that nearly all of the texts we’ve been discussing or will be Continue reading The languages of Indian philosophy
Can a theist believe in God’s omniscience&omnipotence and in free will? I have argued in other posts that one can think in a compatibilist way (because God wants to be freely loved) and that this entails that no punishment/ban from Continue reading A theist caught in the paradoxes of free will