Indian and Intercultural Philosophy: Personhood, Consciousness, and Causality

Description

For over twenty years Douglas Berger has advanced research and reflection on Indian philosophical traditions from both classical and cross-cultural perspectives. This volume reveals the extent of his contribution by bringing together his perspectives on these classical Indian philosophies and placing them in conversation with Confucian, Chinese Buddhist and medieval Indian Sufi traditions. Delving into debates between Nyaya and Buddhist philosophers on consciousness and identity, the nature of Sankara's theory of the self, the precise character of Nagarjuna's idea of emptiness, and the relationship between awareness and embodiment in the broad spectrum of Indian thought, chapters exhibit Berger's unusually broad range of expertise. They connect Chinese Confucian and Buddhist texts with classical Indian theories of ethics and consciousness, contrast the ideas of seminal European thinkers like Nietzsche and Derrida from prevailing themes in Buddhism, and shed light on the spiritual and political dimensions of the Mughal prince Dara Shukoh's immersion into Vedantic thought. Always approaching the arguments from an intercultural perspective, Berger shows how much relevance and resonance classical Indian thought has with ancient Confucian views of ethics, Chinese Buddhist depictions of consciousness and medieval Mughal conceptions of divinity. The result is a volume celebrating the rigor, vitality and intercultural resonance of India's rich philosophical heritage.

Douglas L. Berger is Professor of Global and Comparative Philosophy at Leiden University, The Netherlands. He is author of The Veil of Maya: Schopenhauer's System and Early Indian Thought (2004) and Encounters of Mind: Luminosity and Personhood in Indian and Chinese Thought (2015), and co-editor, with JeeLoo Liu, of Nothingness in Asian Philosophy (2014).

This book is a result of many years of sustained thought on intercultural philosophical issues across several traditions. Berger's humane and sensitive scholarship, broad sympathies, and wide understanding are everywhere evident. This is a book from which there is much to learn for all those committed to a global future for philosophy. * Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad, Fellow of the British Academy, Distinguished Professor of Comparative Philosophy and Religion, Lancaster University, UK * What is unique in Berger's pellucid but provocative, erudite but elegant, argument-rich yet accessible philosophical essays is a four-dimensional crossing of boundaries: between Indian, Chinese, and European philosophies, between epistemology, metaphysics, and ethics, between distinct traditions of Brahminical (Nyaya and Vedanta) and Buddhist philosophies, and between analytical and continental styles of philosophy. Berger's 'bridge-work' in philosophy will make a difference because he never loses sight of the internal differences among each of the traditions or schools. * Arindam Chakrabarti, Lenney Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, University of Hawaii Manoa, Honolulu, USA *