A group blog of scholars exploring Indian philosophy
Over at NDPR, Mark Siderits reviews The Moon Points Back, an edited volume by the Cowherds (Koji Tanaka, Yasuo Deguchi, Jay Garfield and Graham Priest). From the review: The papers illustrate the relative maturity and fruitfulness of a project that Garfield characterizes Continue reading The Moon Points Back: Review at NDPR
Jay L. Garfield. Engaging Buddhism: Why It Matters to Philosophy. xxii + 376 pp., index. NY: Oxford University Press, 2015. $29.95 (paperback). My job in reviewing this book is made much easier by something Garfield says early on: ‘Mark Siderits Continue reading Book Review of Engaging Buddhism: Why It Matters to Philosophy by Jay L. Garfield (Reviewed by Mark Siderits)
B. K. Matilal (1935-1991) was undoubtedly one of the most influential scholars of Indian philosophy in the late 20th century. His work has greatly influenced many of us who work on Indian philosophy today, especially if we do so in Continue reading The Matilal Strategy
Like postulation (arthāpatti), the pramāṇa or instrument of knowledge known as upamāna, often translated as “analogy,” is both fascinating and underdeveloped in contemporary analysis. There are few stand-alone books focusing just on upamāna, although it is frequently treated along with testimony and perception. I suspect this is Continue reading Analogical reasoning and postulation
Well, yes… isn’t it? The problem is less easy than it may look like and amounts to the problem of non-committal understanding. Is it the normal attitude while listening to a speaker or just an exception or an a posteriori Continue reading Can one understand a sentence without believing its content to be the case?
The discussion on the epistemological validity of sentences starts in Jaimini’s Pūrva Mīmāṃsā Sūtra (PMS) and in Śabara’s commentary thereon when the opponent notes that, even if —as established in PMS 1.1.5— there were really an originary connection between words Continue reading Śabara on sentences
What are the principles by which we divide texts into portions, and why would we want to do that in the first place? What Elisa has referred to as “the prescriptive portion of the Veda” is what Mīmāṃsā authors call Continue reading Injunction and denotation in the Veda
Hello, everyone—Matthew asked me to write a guest post on some of my work on Mukulabhaṭṭa and pragmatics in Indian philosophy. I’d be interested in everyone’s thoughts! Mukulabhaṭṭa was a ninth-century Kashmiri thinker who wrote a critical response to Ānandavardhana’s Continue reading Mukulabhaṭṭa and pragmatics in Indian philosophy–a Guest Post by Malcolm Keating
I think that we all have had experiences where we pick up an old text for the umpteenth time, and looking over an old passage, see something new or interesting within it. Recently, I noticed something interesting while reading though Vātsyāyana’s Continue reading Gesturing toward conversational implicature–a snapshot
After the IABS, I realised that there were several authors of this blog there, and perhaps even more readers, and that we could have decided to have at least a coffee together. Thus, I thought that we could start sharing Continue reading Which conferences are on the horizon?