A group blog of scholars exploring Indian philosophy
I demonstrated last time why Buddhaghosa believes the ultimate (paramattha) to be higher and truer than the conventional (vohāra or sammuti). But this is not to say that he finds the conventional unnecessary. Charles Hallisey rightly points out its value Continue reading Conventional teaching wrongly taken as an equal
Continuing my response to Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad, I want to turn back now to the original point of contention with which our exchange first began: the role of conventional (sammuti/vohāra) and ultimate (paramattha) in Buddhaghosa’s thought. First and foremost, I am Continue reading Mere convention vs. seeing correctly
I am very pleased to announce that all five of the lectures from this year in Princeton’s “New Directions in Indian and Comparative Philosophy” series are now online. Please feel free to share the link to the series webpage: You Continue reading Indian Philosophy Lecture Series Videos Now Online
I now begin my responses to Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad on the thought of Buddhaghosa. Let me first reiterate a point I made early on: what I refuse is the interpretation that Buddhaghosa’s understanding of ultimate, conventional and the aggregates are merely Continue reading There is only name and form
A while ago, Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad made a thoughtful reply to the last of my post series on Buddhaghosa. I thank Ram-Prasad for that reply; I appreciate his willingness to engage with my rather cheeky attempt to reply to an article Continue reading The importance of reading Buddhaghosa closely
The Pacific Meeting of the American Philosophical Association (APA) is taking place this week (April 17-20) in Vancouver, Canada. You can find more information, including the schedule, here. There are two sessions focusing mainly on Indian philosophy. Wed. 9am-12pm APA Continue reading Pacific APA in Vancouver (April 17-20): Indian Philosophy and More
A recent post “On Eurocentrism” from Liam Bright on his blog The Sooty Empiric raises some interesting questions about the role of Eurocentrism in the study of non-Western philosophy. While Bright is not writing specifically about the study of Indian/South Asian Continue reading Bright on Eurocentrism
Last time I expressed my gratitude and praise for Matthew Dasti and Stephen Phillips’s much-needed recent selective translation of the Nyāya Sūtras and commentaries. I stand by all of it – and also noted that the book drives me crazy. Continue reading On translating out of order
One of the immediate frustrations one faces in teaching Indian philosophy is that good translations are sorely lacking, certainly into English and I suspect into any Western language, perhaps even any non-Sanskrit language. A Source Book of Indian Philosophy, edited Continue reading On new translations in Indian philosophy
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