Against a Hindu God - Buddhist Philosophy of Religion in India

Erscheinungsjahr 2009
ISBN: 978-0-231-14222-9
Verlag: Columbia University Press

Buch, Englisch, 400 Seiten, Format (B × H): 163 mm x 236 mm, Gewicht: 720 g

Philosophical arguments for and against the existence of God have been crucial to Euro-American and South Asian philosophers for over a millennium. Critical to the history of philosophy in India, were the centuries-long arguments between Buddhist and Hindu philosophers about the existence of a God-like being called Isvara and the religious epistemology used to support them. By focusing on the work of Ratnakirti, one of the last great Buddhist philosophers of India, and his arguments against his Hindu opponents, Parimal G. Patil illuminates South Asian intellectual practices and the nature of philosophy during the final phase of Buddhism in India.

Based at the famous university of Vikramasila, Ratnakirti brought the full range of Buddhist philosophical resources to bear on his critique of his Hindu opponents' cosmological/design argument. At stake in his critique was nothing less than the nature of inferential reasoning, the metaphysics of epistemology, and the relevance of philosophy to the practice of religion. In developing a proper comparative approach to the philosophy of religion, Patil transcends the disciplinary boundaries of religious studies, philosophy, and South Asian studies and applies the remarkable work of philosophers like Ratnakirti to contemporary issues in philosophy and religion.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Patil, Parimal

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Hinduismus
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionsphilosophie, Philosophische Theologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Religionsphilosophie, Philosophische Theologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Nicht-Westliche Philosophie Indische & Asiatische Philosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Buddhismus

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of AbbreviationsIntroduction 1. Comparative Philosophy of ReligionsPart 1. Epistemology2. Religious Epistemology in Classical India: In Defense of a Hindu God3. Against Isvara: Ratnakirti's Buddhist CritiquePart 2. Language, Mind, and Ontology4. The Theory of Exclusion, Conceptual Content, and Buddhist Epistemology5. Ratnakirti's World: Toward a Buddhist Philosophy of EverythingConclusion6. The Values of Buddhist EpistemologyReferencesIndex

Über Autor(innen)

Parimal G. Patil is John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University.