I keep on thinking that one should prepare a panel on Indian philosophy for one of these conferences, but it is always too late when I finally remember it. Perhaps next year? Or do you have something ready?
Category Archives: Philosophy
How to justify Testimony? Indian and Western views
Concerning the Epistemology of Testimony, one can first distinguish between reductionists (claiming that Testimony is just a subset of Inference) and anti-reductionists (claiming that Testimony is a distinct instrument of knowledge). In India and in the West, we have reductionists (David Hume, Elisabeth Fricker, Buddhist Pramāṇavāda, Vaiśeṣika) and anti-reductionists (Thomas Reid, Jennifer Lackey, Arindam Chakrabarti, Nyāya, Mīmāṃsā).
Interestingly, however, in the West reductionists insist on the need for testimony to be grounded on something else (e.g., on the reliability of the speaker), whereas anti-reductionists claim that we have a “presumptive right” to accept testimony, so that it “is a source of justification in its own right” (Gelfert 2010).
Plurality of subjects in Mīmāṃsā: Kiyotaka Yoshimizu 2007
Is the plurality of subjects compatible with the idea of a Vedāntic kind of liberation (in which there seems to be no distinction among different souls)? And can there be an absolute brahman if there are still distinct subjects?
Coffee Break Conference 4: Panel on the Philosophy of Testimony
From Tuesday the 3rd of September to Sunday the 8th I will be in Turin, for the Forth Coffee Break Conference. You can find the program here: orario_CBC_13.
(Additional information can be found on the CBC’s website.)
More in detail, I will be hosting a panel on the Philosophy of Testimony (aka śabdapramāṇa). Beside trying to answer to testimony/śabda-related problems and questions, we will also focus on the possibility to discuss about it in a way which should not take into account the opposition between Western vs. Indian philosophy. This is hopefully the first attempt of doing “just philosophy” (with no further geographical boundary added). Ideas for the next “just philosophical” panels are always welcome.
(You can find my short .ppt presentation introducing the panel here: Intro.)
The 155th Philosophers’ Carnival has recently been published!
For those who are new to the Philosophers’ Carnival: Each month (around the 10th) a different blog hosts the Carnival. The blogger selects interesting blog posts about all topics of philosophy (including the philosopher’s profession), based on her own interests and on what has been submitted here (where you can also find the list of all previous editions of the Carnival). Thus, if you want to see more Sanskrit (etc.) Philosophy featured, be sure to signal interesting blog-posts (either your own ones or someone else’s ones) about it.