DVPR 30302:Indian Philosophy II
(Ident. SALC 20902/30902, RLST 24202, HREL 30300)
Spring Term 2007
Swift Hall 403
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:00-10:20
Instructor: Dan Arnold
Office phone: 702-8276
E-mail: d-arnold@uchicago.edu
Office hours: Swift 401A, Fridays, 9:30-11:30 (or by arrangement);
contact my secretary (Susie McGee, 702-7049) in the Martin Marty Center for an appointment
Conception of the Course
With Part I of this course (taught in the winter term by Prof. Matthew Kapstein) having surveyed some of the relevant background to Indian philosophical traditions, the present course takes up the emergence and development of more systematic canons of reasoning. Specifically, this course will consist in several different soundings in various of the classical Indian "darsanas" (philosophical "viewpoints" or schools), with particular attention to the inter-traditional standards of reason and argument that were systematized -- chiefly under the influence of the schools of Nyaya, Purva Mimamsa, and Buddhist Epistemology -- from roughly the sixth century onwards. Thus, we will attend to such issues as the characteristically Indian emphasis on pramanas ("reliable epistemic warrants") and the pramanya ("validity") thereof; philosophy of language; scripture and hermeneutics; and theism and atheism. In considering these issues, significant attention will be given not only to works that exemplify the modern study of classical Indian philosophy, but also to primary sources in translation. While even good translations of Sanskrit philosophical works are often very difficult of access for the non-specialist, such translations will be considered in hopes of appreciating some of the discursive practices that distinguish all of the various schools surveyed as characteristically Indian. Particular attention will be paid to what is arguably chief among the distinctively "Indic" characteristics of the arguments we will consider: the centrality for this discourse of Sanskritic grammar and linguistics.
Required readings:
The following title is available at the Seminary Coop Bookstore, and on reserve at Regenstein Library: Csaba Dezso, trans., Much Ado about Religion (a translation of the Agamadambara of Jayanta Bhatta). All other assigned and recommended readings are on reserve at Regenstein Library, with nearly all selections available on electronic reserve through Chalk.
In addition, students may wish to be aware of the invaluable bibliographic resource that is the Bibliography volume of Karl Potter, ed., Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, which is continuously updated.
Course requirements:
In addition to regular attendance and spirited participation in (or at least, alert attention to) discussion, two written exercises will be assigned. The first will be a 5-7-page paper, due at the beginning of the sixth week; the second will be an 8-12-page paper, due no later than June 8. (For helpful guidance on the kind of exercise I will have in mind, consider philosopher James Pryor's "Guidelines on Writing a Philosophy Paper.")
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Schedule of Topics and Readings
WEEK 1 (Tue., March 27 / Thur., March 29):
Introduction: The emergence of the mature Indian philosophical tradition (and the emergence of the mature study thereof). Reading (for Thur.): Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, "General Introduction [to A Source Book in Indian Philosophy]"; Daya Krishna, "Three Myths about Indian Philosophy"; Ashok Aklujkar, "Indian Philosophy: An Introduction"; Jonardon Ganeri, "Indian Logic and the Colonization of Reason".
WEEK 2 (Tue., April 3 / Thur., April 5):
The centrality of language and linguistics for Indian philosophy: The case of epistemology. Reading: Daniel Ingalls, "The Comparison of Indian and Western Philosophy"; B. K. Matilal, "The Karaka Theory"; John Dunne, "Pramana Theory: Dharmakirti's Intellectual Context" [Foundations of Dharmakirti's Philosophy, pp.15-25]; Dignaga, Pramanasamuccaya 1.1-12 (Hattori, trans., Dignaga, On Perception, pp.23-31, plus endnotes).
WEEK 3: (Tue., April 10 / Thur. April 12):
Epistemology, continued: More on Dignaga; the Mimamsakas rejoin. Reading: John Taber, A Hindu Critique of Buddhist Epistemology: Kumarila on perception, pp.78-83, 194-198 (notes) ("Refutation of the Buddhist identification of pramana and phala"); 93-112, with notes ("The defense of conceptualized perception"); John Taber, "What Did Kumarila Bhatta Mean by svatah pramanya?"; B. K. Matilal, "Cognition and Language".
WEEK 4: (Tue., April 17 / Thur., April 19):
Philosophy of language, properly speaking: The Buddhist doctrine of apoha ("exclusion"). Reading: Shoryu Katsura, "The Apoha Theory of Dignaga"; Jonardon Ganeri, "The Role of Language in Conceptual Construction" (=Philosophy in Classical India, pp.104-114); Mark Siderits, "A Buddhist Nominalist Semantics" (=Appendix to his Personal Identity and Buddhist Philosophy, pp.211-17); John Dunne, Foundations of Dharmakirti's Philosophy, pp.113-44 ("Universals"), pp.203-222 ("Svabhava-evidence and the Identity-mode"), pp.353-60 (translation of Pramanavarttika 1.137-142, with svavrtti).
WEEK 5: (Tue., April 24 / Thur., April 26):
More philosophy of language: Mimamsaka arguments for the eternality of language. Reading: Francis X. Clooney, Thinking Ritually: Rediscovering the Purva Mimamsa of Jaimini, pp.131-61; Sheldon Pollock, "Mimamsa and the Problem of History in Traditional India"; Lawrence McCrea, "The Hierarchical Organization of Language in Mimamsa Interpretive Theory"; Ganganath Jha, trans., Sabarabhasya, pp.1-9, 16-25, 32-44.
WEEK 6 (Tue., May 1 / Thur., May 3):
"Vedanta" as Uttara Mimamsa. Reading: Sengaku Mayeda, trans., A Thousand Teachings (=Sankara, Upadesasahasri), pp.172-202 ("Thou Art That"), pp.234-250 ("Awareness"); Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad, Advaita Epistemology and Metaphysics, pp.25-37, pp.38-79.
WEEK 7 (Tue., May 8 / Thur., May 10):
Uttara Mimamsa and theism. Reading: John Carman, The Theology of Ramanuja, pp.114-33, 147-66; Francis X. Clooney, "Scholasticisms in Encounter: Working through a Hindu Example"; Francis X. Clooney, "Vedanta Desika's Isvarapariccheda..."; Richard P. Hayes, "Principled Atheism in the Buddhist Scholastic Tradition".
WEEK 8: (Tue., May 15 / Thur., May 17):
The metaphysical perspectivalism of the Jains. Reading: Jonardon Ganeri, Philosophy in Classical India, pp.128-150; B. K. Matilal, The Central Philosophy of Jainism (reserve).
WEEK 9: (Tue., May 22 / Thur., May 24):
Jayanta Bhatta's urbane cosmopolitanism and the Indian philosophical scene. Reading:Much Ado about Religion (Jayanta Bhatta's Agamadambara, trans. Csaba Dezso).
WEEK 10: (Tue., May 29 / Thur. May 31):
Jayanta Bhatta, continued; course conclusion.
Final papers due by June 8!