Indian Philosophy Classes (MT 2023, HT 2024)

Tuesdays, 2:30pm–4:30pm, Radcliffe Humanities Lecture Room (Week 1), Colin Matthew Room (Weeks 2-4)

Convened by Dr Jessica Frazier

 

MT 2023

Week 1 - Identity, Causation and Change
This lecture discusses the competing theories of identity found in Sāṃkhya, Vaiśeṣika and Vedānta. We consider the implications of these ‘transformation’, ‘aggregation’ and ‘manifestation’ theories, and consider the way they address the problems of constitution, individuation, and the causes of changing identities.

Readings:

  • Christopher Bartley: “Sāṃkhya and Yoga” and “Viśiṣṭādvaita” in An Introduction to Indian Philosophy, London: Continuum.
  • Ramkrishna Bhattacharya: A History of Materialism from Ajita to Udbhata. In: The Oxford Handbook of Indian Philosophy. Jonardon Ganeri ed. Oxford.
  • Roma Ray: ‘Is Parināmavāda a Doctrine of Causality?’ Journal of Indian Philosophy, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp.377-396.
  • ‘Naturalism in Classical Indian Philosophy’: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/naturalism-india/

See also suggested readings on Class Info in dropbox folder.

Week 2 - Fundamental Ontology, Being and Monism
Key Indian traditions sought to give a ‘monistic’ account of all that exists, leading them to develop a number of different ontological models of the one foundation of all Being. These were all grounded in differing criteria for what ‘exists’, and different definitions of identity. Here we look at the Vedāntic tradition’s attempts to explain reality in terms of substances, properties or capacities, and explore the way that critical insights led to new ontologies that explained individuals in terms of perception, perspective, and conceptual designations.

Readings:

  • Jessica Frazier. “Monism in Indian philosophy: the coherence, complexity, and connectivity of reality in Śaṃkara’s arguments for Brahman”, Religious Studies 2022, 1-17: doi:10.1017/S0034412522000117.
  • J.N. Mohanty, ‘Some aspects of Indian thinking on Being’ In: The Question of Being: East-West Perspectives, Mervyn Sprung ed. Penn University Press, 1978, pp.141-157.
  • Bartley, Christopher. ‘Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta’ In: An Introduction to Indian Philosophy, Bartley ed. Continuum, 2011, pp.168-183.
  • Schaffer, Jonathan. 2018. ‘Monism’  In: The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, at: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/monism/

See also suggested readings on Class Info in dropbox folder.

Week 3 (25 October) - Consciousness and Phenomenology of Mind
Early Indian sources such as the Yoga Sūtras and Upaniṣads drew on introspection and phenomenological description to develop theories about the nature of the mind, and the ontological nature of consciousness. This led to debates about the epistemological value of self-reflexivity, the continuity (or not) of consciousness, and the metaphysical status of mental phenomena.

Readings:

  • Christopher Bartley: “Advaita Vedānta” in: An Introduction to Indian Philosophy, London: Continuum.
  • Christopher Bartley: “Tantra: Some Śaiva Philosophies of Kashmir” in An Introduction to Indian Philosophy, London: Continuum.
  • Luca Gasparri, “Priority Cosmopsychism and Advaita Vedanta.” Philosophy East and West, 69.1, 130-142.

See also suggested readings on Class Info in dropbox folder.

Week 4 - What is value? Ethics and Aesthetics
In this class we will explore the way that Hinduism constructs conceptions of value without relying on a Platonic/G.E.-Moore-style concept of Goodness per se. We will focus on context-ethics in the Bhagavad Gita. Here, as in Buddhist ideas of altruism, ethics flows from a fundamental rethinking of the self. We will also look at theories of evaluative aesthetic emotion as a kind of emergent value that escapes the problems of egoism.

Readings:
Ethics

  • Perrett, Roy. 2016. “Value” in: An Introduction to Indian Philosophy. Cambridge University Press.
  • Peter Adamson and Jonardon Ganeri. 2020. Chapters 12-13 (on dharma), In: Classical Indian Philosophy, Oxford University Press.
  • Sreekumar, Sandeep. 2012. ‘An Analysis of Consequentialism and Deontology in the Normative Ethics of the Bhagavadgītā,’ Journal of Indian Philosophy 40, pp.277-315
  • Jessica Frazier. 2021. Ethics in Classical Hindu Philosophy: Provinces of Consequence, Agency, and Value in the Bhagavad Ḡıta and̄ Other Epic and Śastric Texts.̄ Religions 12(11), 1029; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12111029.

Aesthetics

  • Peter Adamson and Jonardon Ganeri, ‘In Good Taste: The Aesthetics of Rasa’ In: Classical Indian Philosophy, Oxford University Press 2020.
  • Patnaik, Priyadarshi, 2016. ‘Rasa Aesthetics Goes Global’, in Bloomsbury Handbook of Indian Aesthetics, Arindam Chakrabarti ed. Bloomsbury, accessible from Bodleian computers.
  • Barua, Bijoy, 2016. ‘The Impersonal Subjectivity of Aesthetic Emotion’ in Bloomsbury Handbook of Indian Aesthetics, Arindam Chakrabarti ed. Bloomsbury, accessible from Bodleian computers

 

HT 2024
Week 1 - Personal Identity
This lecture discusses the Buddhist denial of a substantially existing person or self, the foundation of this view in the mereological nihilism of early Buddhist metaphysics, and the philosophical challenges this “no-self” theory faces.

Readings:

  • Mark Siderits: Buddhism as Philosophy: An Introduction,  Hackett, Indianapolis, IN, 2007.
  • Stephen Collins: Selfless Person, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1982.
  • Edward Conze: Buddhist Thought in India: Three Phases of Buddhist Philosophy, George Allen & Unwin, London, 1962.
  • Leonard Priestley: Pudgalavāda Buddhism: The Reality of the Indeterminate Self, Centre for South Asian Studies, University of Toronto, Toronto, 1999.
  • Amber Carpenter: “Persons keeping their karma together”, in Yasuo Deguchi, Jay Garfield et al (eds): The Moon Points Back, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2015, 1-44.
  • Bhikshu Thích Thiên Châu: The Literature of the Personalists of Early Buddhism, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1999.

Week 2 - Foundationalism
Madhyamaka thought is characterized by a thoroughgoing ontological anti-foundationalism in its theory of emptiness. This lecture will unpack what the theory of emptiness means, how it responds to different forms of foundationalism proposed by other Indian schools of thought, and concludes by considering the meta-philosophical implications of the Madhyamaka’s application of anti-foundationalism to itself.

Readings:

  • Mark Siderits: Buddhism as Philosophy: An Introduction, Hackett, Indianapolis, IN, 2007.
  • Paul Williams: Mahāyāna Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations. 2d ed. Routledge, New York, 2009.
  • Paul Williams, Anthony J. Tribe: Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition, Routledge, London 2000.
  • Jan Westerhoff: "The Madhyamaka concept of svabhāva", Asian Philosophy 17:1, 2007, 17-45.
  • Jay Garfield: Empty Words, OUP 2002, first five essays.

Week 3 - Idealism
This lecture examines the main arguments brought forward by the Yogācāra school to establish the conclusion that no external entities exist. We will discuss the plausibility of these arguments and examine the consequences of the Yogācāra denial of external objects for the existence of other minds.

Readings:

  • Jay Garfield: Empty Words, OUP 2002, essays 6 & 7.
  • Thomas E. Wood: A Philosophical and Doctrinal Analysis of the Vijñānavāda, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1994, 31-47.
  • Fernando Tola, Carmen Dragonetti: Being as Consciousness. Yogācāra Philosophy of Buddhism, Motilal Banarsidass, 2004, part III.
  • Jay Garfield, Jan Westerhoff: Madhyamaka and Yogācāra: Rivals or Allies? Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2015.

Week 4 - Altruism
Buddhist thinkers seem to propose an argument that begins with metaphysical premisses and concludes with normative claims recommending universal altruism. This lecture will inquire whether this means that they have somehow bridged the fact-value gap, examine other ways in which this argument may be construed, and will discuss how Buddhist ethics relates to other forms of ethical theorizing the students will be familiar with from their previous philosophical studies.

Readings:

  • Jay Garfield: "What is it like to be a bodhisattva? Moral phenomenology in Śāntideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra", Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, 33:1-2, 2010, 333-357.
  • Charles Goodman: Consequences of Compassion: An Interpretation and Defense of Buddhist Ethics, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2009.
  • Peter Harvey: An Introduction to Buddhist Ethics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2000.
  • Damien Keown: The Nature of Buddhist Ethics, Palgrave, New York, 1992.
  • H. Saddhatissa: Buddhist Ethics, George Allen & Unwin, London, 1970.