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
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. 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
Cross-posted at Love of All Wisdom. Śāntideva’s anti-political views are very commonly missed by Buddhist scholars today, especially constructive or theological ones, who are excited by the Engaged Buddhist embrace of political action. He is hardly alone among classical Indian Continue reading Disengaged Buddhism in the era of Trump
Our own Amod Lele will be giving a talk at a conference organized by Pierre-Julien Harter at the University of Utah, on April 21-22. The other philosophers there, and their talks may also be of interest to readers of this Continue reading Upcoming talks on Buddhism in Utah April 21-22
(I have been asked to write a short introduction to Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta and would like to test it on you, dear readers and fellow bloggers. Any comment or criticism would be more than welcome!) In its full-fledged form, the Viśiṣṭādvaita Continue reading A basic introduction to Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta_UPDATED
I’ve been informed that there is a remarkable fellowship for a specialist in Indian and Comparative Philosophy at Wolfson College, Oxford, at the Berggruen Institute for Philosophy and Culture. The application deadline in April 17, 2017. See below for details. https://www.wolfson.ox.ac.uk/content/berggruen-research-fellow-comparative-philosophy Continue reading Postdoctoral Fellowship at Wolfson College, Oxford 2017-9
Dear all, I am the Indian Ethics editor for PhilPapers. PhilPapers is the online database of publications in philosophy. It is a crowd-source effort: individual scholars are expected to and invited to contribute bibliographical information for their own publications, and Continue reading Indian Ethics: please submit to PhilPapers