Indian philosophical thought on Pramana (Valid Cognition) is a rich achieve that merits attention not only for its technical brilliance and variety but also for the ways in which it reverberates with contemporary discussions in science: arguably the master discourse of the modern world. In a spirit of free and open enquiry, characteristic of His Holiness the Dalai Lamas preferred mode of engaging with the world, Tibet House collaborated with the Drepung Monastic University at Mundgod, Karnataka to organize a Monastic Debate that was both traditional and contemporary. Tibetan Buddhism has a long tradition of Monastic Debates. This Debate was special in that it grew upon the pre-Buddhist traditions of thought on this critical question on Logic while also incorporating a perspective that leapt across the centuries: that of contemporary Physics. While the different schools such as Vedanta, Sankhya, Nyayavaisesika, Purvamimamsa, and Jaina were represented by scholars from academia, there was a lively interaction with monks being trained in traditional Tibetan philosophy at monasteries across India. The seminar was multilingual with presentations and queries in Tibetan, Hindi, Sanskrit and English. While this book presents lightly edited versions of the key papers presented there, the lively debates in Tibetan could not be transcribed due to logistical difficulties. Hence, this bi-lingual volume, attempts to make available to the scholarly community and curious students a valuable resource for understanding this crucial issue in Logic from a rich, multifaceted, comparatist perspective.

Few artworks have been the subject of more extensive modern interpretation than Melencolia I by renowned artist, mathematician, and scientist Albrecht Durer (1514). And yet, did each of these art experts and historians miss a secret manifesto that Durer included within the engraving? This is the first work to decrypt secrets within Melencolia I based not on guesswork, but Durer's own writings, other subliminal artists that inspired him (i.e., Leonardo da Vinci), the Jewish and Christian Bibles, and books that inspired Durer (De Occulta Philosophia and the Hieorglyphica). To read the covert message of Melencolia I is to understand that Durer was a humanist in his interests in mathematics, science, poetry, and antiquity. This book recognizes his unparalleled power with the burin, his mathematical skill in perspective, his dedication to precise language, and his acute observation of nature. Melencolia I may also be one of the most controversial (and at the time most criminal) pieces of art as it hid Durer's disdain for the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, the Kaiser, and the Holy Roman Empire from the general public for centuries. This book closely ties the origins of philosophy (science) and the work of a Renaissance master together, and will be of interest for anyone who loves scientific history, art interpretation, and secret manifestos.

Looking at the breadth of Joan Didion’s writing, from journalism, essays, fiction, memoir and screen plays, it may appear that there is no unifying thread, but Matthew R. McLennan argues that ‘the ethics of memory’ – the question of which norms should guide public and private remembrance – offers a promising vision of what is most characteristic and salient in Didion’s works. By framing her universe as indifferent and essentially precarious, McLennan demonstrates how this outlook guides Didion’s reflections on key themes linked to memory: namely witnessing and grieving, nostalgia, and the paradoxically amnesiac qualities of our increasingly archived public life that she explored in famous texts like Slouching Towards Bethlehem, The Year of Magical Thinking and Salvador. McLennan moves beyond the interpretive value of such an approach and frames Didion as a serious, iconoclastic philosopher of time and memory. Through her encounters with the past, the writer is shown to offer lessons for the future in an increasingly perilous and unsettled world.