A group blog of scholars exploring Indian philosophy
Medhātithi discusses corporeal punishments whenever Manu does, but in two different ways: At times (e.g., in his commentary on MDhŚā 9.248) he just repeats what Manu says, without adding further elaborations and without attempting a general argument about the overall Continue reading Medhātithi on corporeal punishment
In general, Medhātithi’s commentary systematizes the MDh. In the case of action and intention, he does his best to iron away seeming incongruities by explaining that intentional actions are liable to more blame than unintentional ones, which he accomplishes by Continue reading Medhātithi on intention and action
Dear readers, For my final blog post as guest host for March 2021, I’ll begin by putting the concept of the apūrva on the table, and then I’ll shift into my interpretation of Śālikanātha’s new model of the archetypal Vedic Continue reading The Apūrva in Prābhākara Mīmāṃsā
To paraphrase a contemporary philosopher: ‘examples stick around in philosophy in a way they don’t in other fields such as linguistics.’ There is some truth to this. I cannot imagine a philosopher today who doesn’t know Frege’s famous problem: ‘the Continue reading Puzzles in Sanskrit Philosophy
Dear fellow readers, Hi. For my second blog post as the guest host for March 2021, I want to provide a digest version of my recent article in JHS titled: Commands and the Doctrine of the Apūrva in Prābhākara Mīmāṃsā, Continue reading Prabhākara’s Subversion of Śabara’s Theory of Human Motivational Behaviour
Why do people obey to commands? Because they are immediately inclined, in a behaviourist way, to obey? Or because they realise that the action commanded is an instrument to the realisation of a coveted goal? Or are there further explanations? Continue reading Why do people respond to commands?
Within chapter 11 of his masterpiece, the Vidhiviveka `Discernment about prescription’, Maṇḍana identifies the core element which causes people to undertake actions. Maṇḍana expands on Kumārila’s intuition about human behaviour being always goal-oriented by offering a radical reductionist hypothesis. According Continue reading A preliminary understanding of Maṇḍana’s pratibhā
When teaching my World Philosophy course, I try to highlight the ways that Daoist notions of wu-wei, Stoic (and in particular, Epictetus’) notion of living in accordance with nature, and the Gītā’s idea of karmayoga are three ways to approach Continue reading Summary study of Karmayoga
Maṇḍana reforms Mīmāṃsā philosophy of action and deontic by saying that one undertakes actions only because one believes them to be the means to a desired output. A problem Maṇḍana needs to face is the following: If the performance of Continue reading Fixed duties require less care in their performance than optional ones (Maṇḍana’s view)
Please see the announcement below for what looks like an exceptional conference happening in late April in New York City. Submitted by Jonardon Ganeri. INDIAN PHILOSOPHY IN NEW YORK Mind, World, and Attention: Themes from Indian and Buddhist Philosophical Theory Continue reading INDIAN PHILOSOPHY IN NEW YORK: Mind, World, and Attention: Themes from Indian and Buddhist Philosophical Theory