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Jan Westerhoff unfolds the story of one of the richest episodes in
the history of Indian thought, the development of Buddhist
philosophy in the first millennium CE. He starts from the
composition of the Abhidharma works before the beginning of the
common era and continues up to the time of Dharmakirti in the sixth
century. This period was characterized by the development of a
variety of philosophical schools and approaches that have shaped
Buddhist thought up to the present day: the scholasticism of the
Abhidharma, the Madhyamaka's theory of emptiness, Yogacara
idealism, and the logical and epistemological works of Dinnaga and
Dharmakirti. The book attempts to describe the historical
development of these schools in their intellectual and cultural
context, with particular emphasis on three factors that shaped the
development of Buddhist philosophical thought: the need to spell
out the contents of canonical texts, the discourses of the
historical Buddha and the Mahayana sutras; the desire to defend
their positions by sophisticated arguments against criticisms from
fellow Buddhists and from non-Buddhist thinkers of classical Indian
philosophy; and the need to account for insights gained through the
application of specific meditative techniques. While the main focus
is the period up to the sixth century CE, Westerhoff also discusses
some important thinkers who influenced Buddhist thought between
this time and the decline of Buddhist scholastic philosophy in
India at the beginning of the thirteenth century. His aim is that
the historical presentation will also allow the reader to get a
better systematic grasp of key Buddhist concepts such as non-self,
suffering, reincarnation, karma, and nirvana.
Certain questions have recurred throughout the history of
philosophy. They are the big questions-about happiness and the good
life, the limits of knowledge, the ultimate structure of reality,
the nature of consciousness, the relation between causality and
free will, the pervasiveness of suffering, and the conditions for a
just and flourishing society-that thinkers in different cultures
across the ages have formulated in their own terms in an attempt to
make sense of their lives and the world around them. The essays in
this book turn to the major figures and texts of the Buddhist
tradition in order to expand and enrich our thinking on these
enduring questions. Examining them from a comparative and
cross-cultural perspective demonstrates the value of alternative
ways of addressing philosophical problems, showing how different
approaches can produce new and unexpected kinds of questions and
answers. Engaging with the Buddhist tradition, this book shows,
helps return philosophy to its practical as well as theoretical
aim: not only understanding the world but also knowing how to live
in it. Featuring striking and generative comparisons of Buddhist
and Western thought, Philosophy's Big Questions challenges our
thinking in fundamental ways and offers readers new conceptual
tools, methods, and insights for the pursuit of a good and happy
life.
'What is real?' has been one of the key questions of philosophy
since its beginning in antiquity. It is a question that, due to
such films as The Matrix, has also made its way into popular
culture. But it is not just a question philosophers ask. It is also
asked by scientists when they investigate whether the fundamental
constituents of matter are actually 'out there' or just a mere
abstraction from a successful theory. Cognitive scientists ask it
when trying to find out which set of the bewildering array of data
processed by our brain could constitute the basis for such
supposedly fundamental entities like the free agent or the self.
This Very Short Introduction discusses what reality is by looking
at a variety of arguments, theories and thought-experiments from
philosophy, physics, and cognitive science. ABOUT THE SERIES: The
Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press
contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These
pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new
subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis,
perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and
challenging topics highly readable.
Certain questions have recurred throughout the history of
philosophy. They are the big questions-about happiness and the good
life, the limits of knowledge, the ultimate structure of reality,
the nature of consciousness, the relation between causality and
free will, the pervasiveness of suffering, and the conditions for a
just and flourishing society-that thinkers in different cultures
across the ages have formulated in their own terms in an attempt to
make sense of their lives and the world around them. The essays in
this book turn to the major figures and texts of the Buddhist
tradition in order to expand and enrich our thinking on these
enduring questions. Examining them from a comparative and
cross-cultural perspective demonstrates the value of alternative
ways of addressing philosophical problems, showing how different
approaches can produce new and unexpected kinds of questions and
answers. Engaging with the Buddhist tradition, this book shows,
helps return philosophy to its practical as well as theoretical
aim: not only understanding the world but also knowing how to live
in it. Featuring striking and generative comparisons of Buddhist
and Western thought, Philosophy's Big Questions challenges our
thinking in fundamental ways and offers readers new conceptual
tools, methods, and insights for the pursuit of a good and happy
life.
CandrakÄ«rti's Introduction to the Middle Way (MadhyamakÄvatÄra)
is a central work of Buddhist philosophy for two reasons. First, it
provides an introduction to Madhyamaka, one of the three major
philosophical schools of Buddhist thought (the other two being
Abhidharma and YogÄcÄra). Second, within Madhyamaka,
Candrakīrti's text occupies a very prominent role. This is
primarily due to its enormous influence in Tibet, where
Candrakīrti's work became the main entry-point into the study of
Madhyamaka thought. While the historical importance of the
Introduction to the Middle Way for understanding a major section of
Buddhist thought is evident, what makes it particularly interesting
for students is the role it plays as an 'introduction'. It is one
of Candrakīrti's earlier works and presents a comprehensive guide
to the key philosophical ideas and problems of Madhyamaka thought.
This Oxford Guide is for the philosophically interested student or
scholar reading the Introduction to the Middle Way. Westerhoff's
commentary focuses on the philosophical content of the text, using
Candrakīrti's auto-commentary as the main explicatory resource.
Nagarjuna's Vigrahavyavartani is an essential work of Madhyamaka
Buddhist philosophical literature. Written in an accessible
question-and-answer style, it contains Nagarjuna's replies to
criticisms of his philosophy of the "Middle Way." The
Vigrahavyavartani has been widely cited both in canonical
literature and in recent scholarship; it has remained a central
text in India, Tibet, China, and Japan, and has attracted the
interest of greater and greater numbers of Western readers.
In The Dispeller of Disputes, Jan Westerhoff offers a clear new
translation of the Vigrahavyavartani, taking current philological
research and all available editions into account, and adding his
own insightful philosophical commentary on the text. Crucial
manuscript material has been discovered since the earlier
translations were written, and Westerhoff draws on this material to
produce a study reflecting the most up-to-date research on this
text. In his nuanced and incisive commentary, he explains
Nagarjuna's arguments, grounds them in historical and textual
scholarship, and explicitly connects them to contemporary
philosophical concerns.
The Indian philosopher Acharya Nagarjuna (c. 150-250 CE) was the
founder of the Madhyamaka (Middle Path) school of Mahayana Buddhism
and arguably the most influential Buddhist thinker after Buddha
himself. Indeed, in the Tibetan and East Asian traditions,
Nagarjuna is often referred to as the 'second Buddha.' His primary
contribution to Buddhist thought lies is in the further development
of the concept of sunyata or 'emptiness.' For Nagarjuna, all
phenomena are without any svabhaba, literally 'own-nature' or
'self-nature', and thus without any underlying essence. In this
book, Jan Westerhoff offers a systematic account of Nagarjuna's
philosophical position. He reads Nagarjuna in his own philosophical
context, but he does not hesitate to show that the issues of Indian
and Tibetan Buddhist philosophy have at least family resemblances
to issues in European philosophy.
Nagarjuna's Vigrahavyavartani is an essential work of Madhyamaka
Buddhist philosophical literature. Written in an accessible
question-and-answer style, it contains Nagarjuna's replies to
criticisms of his philosophy of the "Middle Way." The
Vigrahavyavartani has been widely cited both in canonical
literature and in recent scholarship; it has remained a central
text in India, Tibet, China, and Japan, and has attracted the
interest of greater and greater numbers of Western readers.
In The Dispeller of Disputes, Jan Westerhoff offers a clear new
translation of the Vigrahavyavartani, taking current philological
research and all available editions into account, and adding his
own insightful philosophical commentary on the text. Crucial
manuscript material has been discovered since the earlier
translations were written, and Westerhoff draws on this material to
produce a study reflecting the most up-to-date research on this
text. In his nuanced and incisive commentary, he explains
Nagarjuna's arguments, grounds them in historical and textual
scholarship, and explicitly connects them to contemporary
philosophical concerns.
The Indian philosopher Acharya Nagarjuna (c. 150-250 CE) was the
founder of the Madhyamaka (Middle Path) school of Mahayana Buddhism
and arguably the most influential Buddhist thinker after Buddha
himself. Indeed, in the Tibetan and East Asian traditions,
Nagarjuna is often referred to as the 'second Buddha.' His primary
contribution to Buddhist thought lies is in the further development
of the concept of sunyata or 'emptiness.' For Nagarjuna, all
phenomena are without any svabhaba, literally 'own-nature' or
'self-nature', and thus without any underlying essence. In this
book, Jan Westerhoff offers a systematic account of Nagarjuna's
philosophical position. He reads Nagarjuna in his own philosophical
context, but he does not hesitate to show that the issues of Indian
and Tibetan Buddhist philosophy have at least family resemblances
to issues in European philosophy.
The concept of an ontological category is central to metaphysics.
Metaphysicians argue about which category an object should be
assigned to, whether one category can be reduced to another one, or
whether there might be different equally adequate systems of
categorization. Answers to these questions presuppose a clear
understanding of what precisely an ontological category is, an
issue which is rarely addressed; Jan Westerhoff presents the first
in-depth analysis both of the use made of ontological categories in
the metaphysical literature, and of various attempts at defining
them. He also develops a new theory of ontological categories which
implies that there will be no unique system, and that the
ontological category an object belongs to is not an essential
property of that object. Systems of ontological categories are
structures imposed on the world, rather than reflections of a deep
metaphysical reality already present. All metaphysicians should
find Westerhoff's book highly stimulating.
This volume brings together nineteen of Mark Siderits's most
important essays on Buddhist philosophy. Together they cover a wide
range of topics, from metaphysics, logic, philosophy of language,
epistemology, and ethics, to the specific discussions of the
interaction between Buddhist and classical Indian philosophy. Each
of the essays is followed by a postscript that Siderits has written
specifically for this volume. The postscripts connect essays of the
volume with each other, show thematic interrelations, and locate
them relative to the development of Siderits's thought. In
addition, they provide the opportunity to bring the discussion of
the essays up to date by acquainting the reader with the
development of research in the field since the publication of the
essays. Siderits's work is based on an investigation of Indian
sources in their original language, nevertheless the focus of the
essays is primarily systematic, not historical or philological. The
idea of 'fusion philosophy' (a term coined by Siderits) embodies
precisely the assumption that by bringing a Western and an Eastern
tradition together, both can benefit by learning from each other
about new ways of tackling old philosophical problems.
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