A group blog of scholars exploring Indian philosophy
Manas plays multiple roles for Kumārila and it is important to keep them apart: manas connecting sense faculty to ātman while sensing an external object (see ŚV pratyakṣa 160ab) manas working itself as a sense faculty for pain and pleasure Continue reading The role of manas in perception according to Kumārila
My previous post on Kumārila’s cognition of the I (here: https://elisafreschi.com/2026/02/15/does-kumarila-accept-i-cognition-as-a-kind-of-perception/) was part of an ongoing conversation with Alex Watson, who patiently prompted me to read or re-read (respectively) his 2010 (“Bhaṭṭa Rāmakaṇṭha’s Elaboration of Self-Awareness (svasaṃvedana)…”) and 2020 (“Four Continue reading Again on ahampratyaya in Kumārila (using Watson 2010 and 2020)
How does one know about the self, according to the three main schools discussed in my last post? Buddhist Epistemological School (Dharmakīrti): the self does not exist. The only thing that exists is a stream (santāna) of causally linked momentary Continue reading Cognition of the self
Main thesis: While we move from realism about objects to realism about subjects and other subjects, Arindam’s commitment to naïve realism decreases. Since I have discussed in the first two previous posts about how Arindam’s methodology makes him do philosophy Continue reading Thoughts on Realisms interlinked by Arindam Chakrabarti/3