Buddhist Philosophy? Arguments From Somewhere

Indo-Iranian Journal 54 (2011), pp.149-173, 2011

APA Newsletter on Asian and Asian-American Philosophers and Philosophies, Vol. 18, No. 2, Spring 2019. Newark: The American Philosophical Association., 2019

This issue on Buddhist Philosophy Worldwide: Perspectives and Programs and the following issue on Buddhist Philosophy Today: Theories and Forms are two special issues of the APA Newsletter on Asian and Asian-American Philosophers and Philosophies which I was invited to guest edit. They are designed to include descriptive and prescriptive/evaluative elements: On the one hand, scholars working on Buddhist philosophy throughout the world provide a descriptive snapshot of the state of the field in their geographical/disciplinary area; on the other, they proffer an evaluative appraisal of how Buddhist philosophy has been carried out and/or a prescriptive programme of how they feel it should be carried out. This collection of articles by experts of the widest possible spectrum of classical, modern, and contemporary Buddhist philosophical schools working in universities throughout Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America thus comprises both an informed survey of the current state of research and a manifesto for the field. As such, it constitutes an important contribution to the ongoing project by scholars of ‘less commonly taught philosophies’ (including but not limited to Chinese, Indian, Islamic, Africana, and Feminist philosophies) to expand the ambit of professional philosophy beyond the narrow confines of the Western canon. Contributions study Buddhist philosophy based on authorial experience in Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, France, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Japan, Myanmar, Nepal, Poland, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

ACERP2019 Official Conference Proceedings, 2019

In recent times there has been an increased focus on non-Western philosophical traditions and their place in the world. This shift is a consequence of socio-political, and economic changes that the world has witnessed lately. Each successive historical phenomenon whether colonialism, post-colonialism, or globalization has led to the reconceptualization and transformation of philosophy as a discipline. Post colonization has shifted focus from the Eurocentric 'Self' to the indigenous 'Other'. Indian Intellectual history also followed its own course reflecting the developments in the West. In this paper, I would like to draw attention to the non-Vedic, atheist traditions of Buddhism, its various sects and the materialistic schools of Carvāka/Lokāyata of the classical period in Indian philosophy. I would like to argue that these early atheistic, rational traditions apart from offering alternative methods of reasoning and thinking, embody modern democratic values of justice, equality and liberty. Indian atheistic (Śramaṇa/nāstika) traditions were borne out of skepticism against the established, ritualistic, caste based dominant oppressive systems of premodern India. These schools did not just address everyday existential problems of man but also suggested alternate egalitarian, socialist form of government as opposed to monarchy where each individual could truly develop to his or her own capabilities. Finally, in conclusion, I argue how the study of debates of premodern India within and across diverse, disparate traditions offers vital insights into current issues plaguing modern India such as identity politics, social and religious freedom, economic inequity, and suggest ways of bringing these divergent, opposing groups and viewpoints into dialogue and conversation.

APA Newsletter on Asian and Asian-American Philosophers and Philosophies, Vol. 19, No. 1, Fall 2019. Newark: The American Philosophical Association.

This issue on Buddhist Philosophy Today: Theories and Forms and the previous issue on Buddhist Philosophy Worldwide: Perspectives and Programs are two special issues of the APA Newsletter on Asian and Asian-American Philosophers and Philosophies which I was invited to guest edit. They are designed to include descriptive and prescriptive/evaluative elements: On the one hand, scholars working on Buddhist philosophy throughout the world provide a descriptive snapshot of the state of the field in their geographical/disciplinary area; on the other, they proffer an evaluative appraisal of how Buddhist philosophy has been carried out and/or a prescriptive programme of how they feel it should be carried out. This collection of articles by experts of the widest possible spectrum of classical, modern, and contemporary Buddhist philosophical schools working in universities throughout Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America thus comprises both an informed survey of the current state of research and a manifesto for the field. As such, it constitutes an important contribution to the ongoing project by scholars of ‘less commonly taught philosophies’ (including but not limited to Chinese, Indian, Islamic, Africana, and Feminist philosophies) to expand the ambit of professional philosophy beyond the narrow confines of the Western canon. Contributions study Buddhist philosophy based on authorial experience in Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, France, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Japan, Myanmar, Nepal, Poland, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Orientalistische Literaturzeitung, 2013

Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, Vol. 16. Oxford: Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, May 2019.

This 6,220-word review article of The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy is concerned not only to review the work but to place it within the broader context of the study of Buddhist philosophy. As such, and in addition to evaluating the substantive Buddhist philosophical content of the book, I analyse in some detail the theoretical and methodological apparatuses the book deploys in order to translate classical Indian Buddhist philosophical positions, arguments, debates, assumptions, and concerns into an idiom recognizable to contemporary Western philosophers. Throughout, I argue that the fine balancing of emic and etic exigencies exemplified in the book ably elucidates how philosophically astute exposition of systematic thought built upon presuppositional frameworks alien to those of the exegete’s own intellectual culture may transculturally transmit such thought in a manner that simultaneously retains the distinctive features of the source materials and facilitates argumentatively justified engagement with them on the part of audience members unfamiliar with or even antagonistic toward them.

Philosophy East and West, 2021

This article is concerned with the role of Buddhist philosophy, and more broadly of non-Western philosophies, within the discipline of philosophy as this is professed and practiced today. I begin by deliberately engaging in a game of definitions to demonstrate that, whichever of the definitions standardly employed to deny non-Western philosophy the prestigious moniker, Buddhism nevertheless wins: it does count as philosophy. Having made that point, however, I go on to e!ectively undermine it by pointing out that anyone can win the game if they get to make up the rules. Given the score is arbitrary, then, I show up the game itself as absurd. On this basis, I ultimately cry foul at the perpetuation of a game still so plainly played on fields far from level, and therefore argue against excusing philosophers engaged in it of the charge of racism.

2021

Traditionally, a distinction is made between Indian and western thinking, and this is exemplified in everything from religion to attire, food to education, thought process and relations, and emotions. While Indian thinking is characterized as spiritual and mystical in nature, western thinking is scientific, logical, rational, materialistic and individualistic. However, from ancient past, there were certain similarities between Indian and Western thought, particularly, Buddhist thought and Western philosophy have several interesting parallels. Although the Ancient Greeks undoubtedly had contact with Buddhism, all through the Middle Ages and beyond, the West was almost totally ignorant of it. Heraclitus conception of constant flux of Universe, Protagoras man centered philosophy having similarities with Buddhism. Greek Skepticism particularly that of Pyrrho can be compared to Buddhist philosophy, especially with the Indian Mādhyamika School. Hume's conception of personal identity is very similar to the Buddhist notion of not-self. Similarly, German Idealism, especially Kant's, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche's philosophy, Phenomenology of Edmund Husserl, Existentialism of Heidegger, Process philosophy of A. N. Whitehead and Wittgenstein philosophy are having more similarities with Buddhist thought. Therefore, the present paper is intended to have a critical and analytical look into the basic similarities in their conceptions of Buddhism and Western philosophy.

Problems of Translation and Philosophical Interpretation of Buddhism (on the material of the Tibetan and Chinese traditions), 2018

The author considers the reasons for distinguishing a special cross-cultural philosophical approach from the comparative philosophy and Jay Garfield's idea of its application in Buddhist studies; presents her own position on the cross-cultural interpretation of Buddhist philosophy in comparison with the teachings of Wittgenstein and Husserl.

Philosophy East & West 67:3, 2017

Philosophy claims its goal is to search for truth. The history of philosophy, however, demonstrates that, in most cases, this search for truth is not free from the power structures of the time. The formation of modern philosophy in East Asia is no exception. This essay will demonstrate how the East-West power imbalance at the beginning of the modern period is implicitly and explicitly imbedded in the formation of modern Buddhist philosophy in East Asia. By examining the life and thoughts of two East Asian Buddhist thinkers, Paek Sŏnguk (白性郁1897-1981) and Inoue Enryō (井上円了1858-1919), this essay will demonstrate two seemingly unrelated aspects of the East-West encounter in the philosophizing of the East. On the one hand, Paek’s and Enryō’s Buddhist philosophy tells us that the beginning of philosophy in modern East Asia is inevitably related to the power imbalance between the East and the West. On the other hand, however, the forced encounter of Eastern “thought” tradition with the Western genre called philosophy generated a new mode of philosophizing, which is also shared by some contemporary Western philosophers in their criticism of institutionalized philosophy.