School of Arts & Humanities Department of Philosophy

 

                       

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6AANB017 Indian Philosophy: The Heterodox Schools Syllabus – Academic year 2014/5 Basic information  

Credits:  15  Module  Tutor:  Dr  Will  Rasmussen  Office:  PB/A702  Consultation  time:  TBA  Semester:  Second  Lecture  time  and  venue:  http://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/philosophy/study/handbook/teaching/timetables.aspx  

 Module description (plus aims and objectives)  

 Assessment methods and deadlines

This module (along with 6AANA016 Indian Philosophy: The Orthodox Schools) is intended for students who wish to gain an introduction to Indian philosophy that looks carefully at the high standard of logic, epistemology, metaphysics and linguistics that grounded the various philosophical systems. The schools most fully examined are Buddhism, Jainism and Advaita Vedānta (strictly speaking an Orthodox school, but attacked for being heterodox). However, the positions and arguments of opposing schools, such as Sāṅkhya, Mīmāṃsā, Nyāya, Vaiśeṣika and Carvāka (Materialists), are regularly adduced to enhance our study. The examination of these schools makes use of translations of the key primary texts and focuses upon the vigorous debate over conceptual analysis and argumentative strategies by which the schools presented their philosophical positions, defended them against attacks by other schools, and mounted in turn their own attacks. Studying Indian philosophy in this way demonstrates both the similarities and the philosophically important differences in the way the main issues of philosophy have been addressed in India and in the West.    

   

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Outline of lecture topics (plus suggested readings)  

• Formative  assessment:  1  x  2,000  word  essay,  due  on  Friday  4  April  2014    

• Summative  assessment:  1  x  4,000  word  essay.  For  the  deadline  see  http://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/philosophy/study/handbook/assessment/ug/coursework/deadlines.aspx  

 

   

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Outline of lecture topics (plus suggested readings) – continued if necessary  

For an excellent survey of Indian Philosophy prior to (and during) the course, see Hiriyanna, M. (2000) Outlines of Indian Philosophy, Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass. The course book is Radhakrishnan, S. & Moore, C. A. (eds.) (1989) A Source Book in Indian Philosophy, Princeton, Princeton University Press.  Week  One<DATE>:  << Buddhism: Foundations and the Deconstruction of the Individual Self  >>  Suggested  reading:    • Radhakrishnan, S. & Moore, C. A. (eds.) (1989) A Source Book in Indian Philosophy, Princeton, Princeton University Press: 273-288  • Rahula, W. (1997) What the Buddha Taught, Oxford, Oneworld  • Siderits, M. (2007) Buddhism as Philosophy, Burlington VT, Ashgate: 1-68  • Warder, A. K. (1970) Indian Buddhism, Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass    Week  Two<DATE>:  << Buddhism: Abhidharma and the Metaphysics of Empty Persons  >>  Suggested  reading:    • Radhakrishnan, S. & Moore, C. A. (eds.) (1989) A Source Book in Indian Philosophy, Princeton, Princeton University Press: 289-292  • Siderits, M. (2007) Buddhism as Philosophy, Burlington VT, Ashgate: 69-137    Week  Three  <DATE>:  << Buddhism: Yogācāra and the Non-existence of an External World  >>  Suggested  reading:    • Viṃśatikā and Triṃśikā in Radhakrishnan, S. & Moore, C. A. (eds.) (1989) A Source Book in Indian Philosophy, Princeton, Princeton University Press: 328-37  • Siderits, M. (2007) Buddhism as Philosophy, Burlington VT, Ashgate: 138-79    Week  Four<DATE>:  << Buddhism: Madhyamaka and the Doctrine of Emptiness  >>  Suggested  reading:    • Mahāyānaviṃśaka and Mūlamadhyamakakārikā in Radhakrishnan, S. & Moore, C. A. (eds.) (1989) A Source Book in Indian Philosophy, Princeton, PUP: 338-45  • Garfield, Jay at http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/Nagarjuna/Dependent_Arising.htm  • Nāgārjuna (1971) ‘The Dialectical Method of Nāgārjuna (Vigraha-vyāvartanī)’, Bhattacharya, K. (tr.), Journal of Indian Philosophy 1: 217-261. See vv. 5-6 & 30-46. Also at http://www.springerlink.com/content/b0jl4u2767u407q2/  • Siderits, M. (2007) Buddhism as Philosophy, Burlington VT, Ashgate: 180-207    Week  Five<DATE>:  << Buddhism: Buddhist Logic and the School of Dignāga  >>  Suggested  reading:    • Siderits, M. (1982) ‘More Things in Heaven and Earth', Journal of Indian Philosophy 10: 187-208  • Siderits, M. (2007) Buddhism as Philosophy, Burlington VT, Ashgate: 208-230  • Stcherbatsky, F. T. (1962) Buddhist Logic, New York, Dover: 59-78 & 457-477. And at http://www.scribd.com/doc/44173254/Stcherbatsky-Th-Buddhist-Logic-Vol-1    

   

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Week  Six<DATE>:  << Jainism. The Theory of Non-one-sided-ness and the Doctrine of Standpoints  >>  Suggested  reading:    • Matilal, B. K. (1981) The Central Philosophy of Jainism (Anekānta-vāda), Ahmedabad, L. D. Institute of Indology: 1-46. Find at http://www.scribd.com/doc/78637945/Central-Philosophy-of-Jainism-Bimal-Krishna-Matilal  • Padmarajiah, Y. J. (1963) Jaina Theories of Reality and Knowledge, Bombay, Jain Sahitya Vikas Mandal: see especially chapters 5 &10. Available at: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=pWjFsW_uIPAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Padmarajiah&hl=en&sa=X&ei=3W86T9z9K4mh8gPrsqH3Cg&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Padmarajiah&f=false  • Syādvādamañjarī & Sanmatitarka in Radhakrishnan, S. & Moore, C. A. (eds.) (1989) A Source Book in Indian Philosophy, Princeton, PUP: 262-263 & 269-271    Week  Seven<DATE>:  << Jainism. The Doctrine of Conditional Affirmation  >>  Suggested  reading:    • Matilal, B. K. (1981) The Central Philosophy of Jainism (Anekānta-vāda), Ahmedabad, L. D. Institute of Indology: 47-61. Find at http://www.scribd.com/doc/78637945/Central-Philosophy-of-Jainism-Bimal-Krishna-Matilal  • Matilal, B. K. (1998) The Character of Logic in India, Albany, SUNY: ch. 6  • Syādvādamañjarī in Radhakrishnan, S. & Moore, C. A. (eds.) (1989) A Source Book in Indian Philosophy, Princeton, Princeton University Press: 260-268    Week  Eight<DATE>:  << Advaita Vedānta. The Doctrine of Superimposition and the Logic of Nescience  >> Suggested  reading:    • Kaṭha Upaniṣad in Radhakrishnan, S. & Moore, C. A. (eds.) (1989) A Source Book in Indian Philosophy, Princeton, Princeton University Press: 42-50  • Vedāntasūtra I.i.1-iv.23 in Radhakrishnan, S. & Moore, C. A. (eds.) (1989) A Source Book in Indian Philosophy, Princeton, Princeton University Press: 509-521    Week  Nine<DATE>:  << Advaita Vedānta. The Metaphysics of Non-duality and the Valid Means of Knowledge  >> Suggested  reading:    • Bṛhadāranyaka Upaniṣad in Radhakrishnan, S. & Moore, C. A. (eds.) (1989) A Source Book in Indian Philosophy, Princeton, Princeton University Press: 77-89  • Vedāntasūtra II.i.5-ii.32 in Radhakrishnan, S. & Moore, C. A. (eds.) (1989) A Source Book in Indian Philosophy, Princeton, Princeton University Press: 521-535  • Satchidanandendra Sarasvati (1989) The Method of the Vedānta: a Critical Account of the Advaita Tradition, Alston, A. J. (tr.), London, Kegan Paul: 1-8    Week  Ten  <DATE>:  << Advaita Vedānta. Sublation (bādha) and the Epistemology of Liberation  >> Suggested  reading:    • Kena Upaniṣad in Radhakrishnan, S. & Moore, C. A. (eds.) (1989) A Source Book in Indian Philosophy, Princeton, Princeton University Press: 41-42  • Vedāntasūtra II.iii.16-IV.iv.22 in Radhakrishnan, S. & Moore, C. A. (eds.) (1989) A Source Book in Indian Philosophy, Princeton, Princeton University Press: 535-543  • Devaraja, N. K. (1962) An Introduction to Śaṅkara's Theory of Knowledge, Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass: 113-201      

   

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Suggested essay questions

This course is designed to encourage you to pursue what really interests you in the light of your study of primary sources in Indian philosophy, and to think for yourself. So try to focus upon the primary texts and commentaries, and exhibit your own critical assessment of the issue, stimulated by your wider reading of secondary sources. Also, feel free to augment your examination of the topic by drawing upon any relevant Western philosophy that you have studied. Here are some suggestions, but the instructor welcomes you to meet or email him to discuss your own choice of title and essay structure.

• A critical assessment of Buddhist arguments for their doctrine of no-self.

• Is the Buddhist no-self doctrine compatible with the soteriological project of liberation (nirvāṇa)?

• Can Buddhism even have a coherent moral theory, given that it denies the existence of selves as moral agents?

• Does Abhidharma Buddhism succeed in refuting the conventional ontology of wholes, substances, universals, change etc.?

• Does Yogācāra Buddhism succeed in proving there is no external world?

• What do Nāgārjuna’s arguments for his doctrine of emptiness prove, if anything?

• Is Dignāga’s theory of exclusion (apoha) a correct account of the semantic power of language?

• Can Jainism refute the charge that its doctrine of non-one-sided-ness (anekānta) is self-contradictory and/or inconclusive?

• Assess Advaita Vedānta’s use of the principle of sublation to prove that only the Self exists.

• Does Advaita Vedānta succeed in providing a satisfactory error theory explaining why is it not commonly known that ‘All is Brahman’?

• Are Advaita Vedānta’s doctrines of the existence of God and of the possibility of individuals achieving liberation compatible with its absolute monism?

   

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Suggested additional readings

 

   

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