Category Archives: Ethics

Guest post: A response to Christopher G. Framarin’s “Habit and Karmic result in Yogaśāstra”, by Dr. Satyan Sharma

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This guest post is by Satyan Sharma (PhD, Panjab University, Chandigarh). In his chapter titled ‘Habit and Karmic result in Yogaśāstra’, published in the Oxford Handbook of Indian Philosophy, Christopher G. Framarin has many a time stated that Yogaśāstra does Continue reading Guest post: A response to Christopher G. Framarin’s “Habit and Karmic result in Yogaśāstra”, by Dr. Satyan Sharma→

You don’t have to drop philosophy for activism

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The United States has always been a relentlessly pragmatic place, which doesn’t leave it much room for philosophy. Watching three Republican presidential candidates all take pot-shots at philosophy on the same night was only the most vivid recent example. But Continue reading You don’t have to drop philosophy for activism→

In praise of the present moment

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One of the things that helped me realize the need for self-improvement by not-self-improvement was regular practice with the excellent Headspace meditation app, created by a former Tibetan monk named Andy Puddicombe. Headspace is at the epicenter of “McMindfulness”: the Continue reading In praise of the present moment→

Self-improvement by not-self-improvement

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Years ago, in a difficult period of my life, I had looked for philosophical help and explicitly found it in Buddhism and not Daoism, rejecting Daoism and its sudden-liberation views in about the strongest possible terms. But that wasn’t the Continue reading Self-improvement by not-self-improvement→

Book Review of Capitalism – its Nature and its Replacement: Buddhist and Marxist Insights by Graham Priest (Reviewed by David Simone)

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Graham Priest. Capitalism – its Nature and its Replacement: Buddhist and Marxist Insights. Xvii + 234 pp., index. Routledge, 2022. $39.16 (paperback). Graham Priest’s insightful and brilliant new book explores how Buddhist philosophy compliments Marxist (and anarchist) philosophy, providing a Continue reading Book Review of Capitalism – its Nature and its Replacement: Buddhist and Marxist Insights by Graham Priest (Reviewed by David Simone)→

Video debate: “Śāntideva: utilitarian or eudaimonist?”

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This November, Charles Goodman and I had a wonderful debate at Princeton’s Center for Culture, Society and Religion, on the interpretation of Śāntideva’s ethics: Charles claims that Śāntideva is a utilitarian, I claim that he is a eudaimonist. You can Continue reading Video debate: “Śāntideva: utilitarian or eudaimonist?”→