DVPR 30302:Indian Philosophy II
(Ident. SALC 20902/30902, RLST 24202, HREL 30300)
Spring Term 2009
Swift Hall 400
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:30-11:50
Instructor: Dan Arnold
Office phone: 702-8276
E-mail: d-arnold@uchicago.edu
Office hours: Swift 401A, Thursdays, 3:00-5:00 (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 titles are (or will soon be) available at the Seminary Coop Bookstore, and on reserve at Regenstein Library:
-- Daya Krishna, Indian Philosophy: A New Perspective (this will be something like the "textbook" for the course, with more or less relevant readings from this suggested throughout the term, but not necessarily explicitly attended to)
-- 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 (=Tue., May 5); the second will be an 8-12-page paper, due no later than June 12. (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 31 / Thur., April 2):
Introduction: The emergence of the mature Indian philosophical tradition (and of the mature study thereof). Reading (for Thur.): Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, "General Introduction [to A Source Book in Indian Philosophy]" (e-reserve); Jonardon Ganeri, "Indian Logic and the Colonization of Reason" (e-reserve); Daya Krishna, "Three Myths about Indian Philosophy" (e-reserve); Daya Krishna, Indian Philosophy: A New Approach, pp.3-28, 277-292
WEEK 2 (Tue., April 7 / Thur., April 9):
The centrality of language and linguistics for Indian philosophy: The case of epistemology. Reading: Daniel Ingalls, "The Comparison of Indian and Western Philosophy" (e-reserve); B. K. Matilal, "The Karaka Theory" (e-reserve); John Dunne, "Pramana Theory: Dharmakirti's Intellectual Context" [=Foundations of Dharmakirti's Philosophy, pp.15-25; e-reserve]; Dignaga, Pramanasamuccaya 1.1-12 (Hattori, trans., Dignaga, On Perception, pp.23-31, plus endnotes; e-reserve); Raja Ram Dravid, The Problem of Universals in Indian Philosophy, pp.61-72 ("The Buddhist Criticism of Realism and the Realist Reply, I: The Buddhist Criticism," e-reserve); Daya Krishna, Indian Philosophy, pp.84-103
WEEK 3: (Tue., April 14 / Thur. April 16):
Epistemology, continued: More on Dignaga; the Mimamsakas rejoin. Reading: B. K. Matilal, "Cognition and Language" (e-reserve); John Taber, A Hindu Critique of Buddhist Epistemology: Kumarila on perception, pp.78-83, 194-198 (endnotes) ("Refutation of the Buddhist identification of pramana and phala"; e-reserve); 93-112, with notes ("The defense of conceptualized perception"; e-reserve); John Taber, "What Did Kumarila Bhatta Mean by svatah pramanya?"; Raja Ram Dravid, The Problem of Universals in Indian Philosophy, pp.45-54 ("The Realism of the Mimamsa," e-reserve), pp.93-109 ("Are Universals Perceived?, II: The Realist's Criticism," e-reserve); Daya Krishna, Indian Philosophy, pp.29-44
WEEK 4: (Tue., April 21 / Thur., April 23):
Philosophy of language, properly speaking: The Buddhist doctrine of apoha ("exclusion"). Reading: Shoryu Katsura, "The Apoha Theory of Dignaga" (e-reserve); Jonardon Ganeri, "The Role of Language in Conceptual Construction" (=Philosophy in Classical India, pp.104-114; e-reserve); Mark Siderits, "A Buddhist Nominalist Semantics" (=Appendix to his Personal Identity and Buddhist Philosophy, pp.211-17; e-reserve); 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; all on e-reserve); Raja Ram Dravid, The Problem of Universals in Indian Philosophy, pp.219-247 ("The Buddhist Nominalism," e-reserve); Daya Krishna, Indian Philosophy, pp.62-71
WEEK 5: (Tue., April 28 / Thur., April 30):
More philosophy of language: Mimamsakas on the reality of universals and the eternality of language. Reading: Ganganath Jha, trans., Sabarabhasya, pp.1-9, 16-25, 32-44 (e-reserve); Lawrence McCrea, "The Hierarchical Organization of Language in Mimamsa Interpretive Theory" (e-reserve); V. N. Volosinov, Marxism and the Philosophy of Language, Part II, Chapter 1: "Two Trends of Thought in Philosophy of Language" (e-reserve); Francis X. Clooney, Thinking Ritually: Rediscovering the Purva Mimamsa of Jaimini, pp.131-61; John Taber, "Are Mantras Speech Acts? The Mimamsa Point of View" (e-reserve); Raja Ram Dravid, The Problem of Universals in Indian Philosophy, pp.72-85 ("The Buddhist Criticism of Realism and the Realist Reply, II: The Realist Reply," e-reserve); Daya Krishna, Indian Philosophy, pp.109-115
WEEK 6 (Tue., May 5 / Thur., May 7):
"Vedanta" as Uttara Mimamsa. Reading: Sengaku Mayeda, trans., A Thousand Teachings (=Sankara, Upadesasahasri), pp.172-202 ("Thou Art That"), pp.234-250 ("Awareness"; both on e-reserve); John Taber, "Kumarila the Vedantin?" (e-reserve); Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad, Advaita Epistemology and Metaphysics, pp.25-37, 38-79 (e-reserve); Daya Krishna, Indian Philosophy, pp.115-127, 137-147
WEEK 7 (Tue., May 12 / Thur., May 14):
Back to "self-awareness" (svasamvitti): The Buddhist doctrine and its reception and critique in Saiva Siddhanta. Reading: Reading: Alex Watson, The Self's Awareness of Itself, Chapter 2 ("Can We Know the Self Through Self-Awareness (Svasamvedana)?"; e-reserve); Daya Krishna, Indian Philosophy, pp.163-173
WEEK 8: (Tue., May 19 / Thur., May 21):
The metaphysical perspectivalism of the Jains. Reading: Jonardon Ganeri, Philosophy in Classical India, pp.128-150 ("Rationality, harmony and perspective," e-reserve); B. K. Matilal, The Central Philosophy of Jainism (reserve); Daya Krishna, Indian Philosophy, pp.226-252
WEEK 9: (Tue., May 26 / Thur., May 28):
Jayanta Bhatta's urbane cosmopolitanism and the Indian philosophical scene. Reading: Much Ado about Religion (Jayanta Bhatta's Agamadambara, trans. Csaba Dezso); Daya Krishna, Indian Philosophy, pp.128-136
WEEK 10: (Tue., June 2):
Jayanta Bhatta, continued; course conclusion.
Final papers due by June 12!