A group blog of scholars exploring Indian philosophy
How was Capitalism born? And, more in general, 1. does the economic structure determine its superstructure (including philosophy or religion), as in Marx; 2. does a certain philosophy, religion, etc. determine a certain economic result, as in Weber; or 3. Continue reading Economic structures and philosophic superstructures: On Scott 2013 and Eltschinger 2013
What are the Pāñcarātras? Is there anything like a uniform Pāñcarātra Canon and/or Theology? Or are these texts only part of a constellation which has been made consistent by its later interpreters?
(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?
Should we try to periodise Indian philosophy or shall we give up any attempt, since each one will be criticised and is in some respect flawed? Periodisation, as recently highlighted by Julius Lipner, is a form of classification and as Continue reading Investigatio semper reformanda
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
[Cross-posted at Love of All Wisdom.] I am increasingly getting the impression that the debates over Orientalism in Asian traditions have taken a new turn, and one very much for the better. Few books of the twentieth century have made Continue reading A synthesis beyond Orientalism
We discussed already on this blog about how our conception of “classical Indian philosophy” is contingent and historically determined. For instance, if you were to ask me what “classical Indian philosophy” for me means, I would at first answer with Continue reading Before “Classical Indian Philosophy”: the influence of the Sāṅkhya logic UPDATED