Tuesdays, 2pm–4pm, Lady Margaret Hall (Lavinia Talbot Room)
Convened by Prof Monima Chadha
Questioning Narrative Identity from a Buddhist point of view
A fierce critic of contemporary thinking about narrative identities, Appiah (2018), points out errors in thinking about identities of gender, creed, country, colour, class and culture and argues that they must be reformed. But there’s no dispensing with identities. So, Appiah ends up closing the book with an identity that binds us all, call it that of a “cosmopolite” or just “human”. But why are identities indispensable? Is it necessary for us to strive to construct an identity for ourselves? In this course we will address these questions from a Buddhist point of view.
Readings
Week 1
- Kwame Anthony Appiah (2018) “The Lies that Bind” Chapter 1 and Coda.
Week 2
- Korsgaard, Christine (1989). Personal identity and the unity of agency: A Kantian response to Parfit. Philosophy and Public Affairs 18(2):103-31.
- Schechtman, Marya (2005). Experience, agency, and personal identity. Social Philosophy and Policy 22(2):1-24.
Week 3
- Dennett, Daniel C. (1992). The self as a center of narrative gravity. In Frank S. Kessel, P. M. Cole & D. L. Johnson, [Book Chapter]. Lawrence Erlbaum. pp. 4--237.
- Velleman, James David (2005). “The Self as Narrator” in Self to Self: Selected Essays. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Week 4
- Strawson, Galen (2004). Against Narrativity. Ratio 17 (4):428-452
- Baker, Lynne Rudder (2016). Making sense of ourselves: self-narratives and personal identity. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 15 (1):7-15.
Week 5
- Callard Agnes, 2018 Aspiration: The Agency of Becoming New York: Oxford Univ. Press, Chapters 5 & 6
Week 6
- Kapstein, Matthew 2001 Excerpts from Abhidharmakośabhāṣya Chapter 9 Vasubandhu on Agency and Responsibility pp. 372-375
- Meyers Karin 2017 “The Dynamics of Intention, Freedom and Habituation According to Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakośabhāṣya.” In Jake H. Davis, ed. A Mirror is For Reflection: Understanding Buddhist Ethics. New York: Oxford University Press.
Week 7
- Gold, Jonathan C. (2023). Wholesome Mind Ethics: A Buddhist Paradigm. Journal of Value Inquiry 57 (4):607-624.
- Gold, Jonathan, 2018. “Freedom through Cumulative Moral Cultivation: Heroic Willpower (Vīrya)” Journal of Buddhist Ethics
Week 8
- Meyers Karin 2020 ‘Mental Freedom’ and ‘Freedom of the Loving Heart’ (ceto-vimutti): The Roles of Habituation, Affection, and Somatic Disposition in the Cultivation of Noble (ārya) Freedom.” Zygon 55:2
- Oren Hanner, 2024 “Selfless Agency and the Cultivation of a Moral Character” in Moral Agency in Eastern and Western Thought (pp. 216–235). Routledge
