Links
This page contains the resources that I have found useful in my personal and professional life. Admittedly, it is an eclectic list. It contains everything from quotes and books that I like to podcasts, videos, and slideshows.
If you don’t want to scroll through the entire list, you can click on one of the links below and filter the resources by specific category.
I will update this list as I discover new resources. If you have a resource you think I should add, please email me.
An interesting review of Vincent Eltschinger’s last book, Buddhist Epistemology as Apologetics, by Peter Bisschop which has the advantage of
- summarising the main thesis of the book (the Buddhist epistemological school is not only a natural development of the Buddhist tradition of dialectics, but also the reaction to external attacks, e.g., by Kumārila Bhaṭṭa)
- highlighting Eltschinger’s innovative methodological choice of reading Buddhist epistemology through its social history
- adding a few critical remarks* about the structure of the book (“An overall conclusion rounding off the four individual chapters would have been welcome, in particular because the subject of the first two chapters […] and the last two chapters […] differ quite strongly from each other”, p. 268) and about the possible distinction between Vaiṣṇava and Śaiva attitudes towards Buddhism (“A text like the Skandapurāṇa […] does not contain a single reference to pāsaṇḍins [‘heretics’, EF]. This may not only reflect a difference in time but also in position, that of the conservative, anti-Buddhist Vaiṣṇavas of the Viṣṇupurāṇa on the one hand and the soon-to-be dominant Śaivas of the Skandapurāṇa on the other”, p. 265).
*Long-term readers will now know that I am biased in favour of structured criticism (and against lists of useless typos and baseless praises). Accordingly, they may disagree with me on the importance of this last point if they prefer different types of reviews.
Have a look at the new Philosophers’ Carnival and let me know what you think about it. I am sure most readers will love the mixing of text and images (I don’t, but just because I am esthetically-impaired). And no, nothing beyond Königsberg, but several interesting posts on challenging topics (from atheism to blameworthiness for what we cannot choose to avoid).
At the link above, Edward Feser discusses Nyāya arguments. He seems to rely mostly on K.K. Chakrabarti. Spotted some mistakes? Let me know in the comments, but then let us enjoy the fact that Feser manages to summarise in a clear and accessible way the argument and to discuss it along with Thomistic and Materialistic counter-arguments.
No, there is nothing vaguely related with anything else but Western philosophy. But, I guess, we have been spoilt by various mentions of other philosophical traditions in the previous months… and it would all be too easy if this could become the rule!
If you want to recommend posts for the next edition of the Carnival, please do so here.
…of the last year (that is, written after November the 9th 2013) here, before November the 17th.
Unfortunately, only the 100 most voted posts will be evaluated. It would be nice if a post dealing with non-Western philosophy could be at least nominated among those 100, so check whether you can support one which has already some votes!
The 169th Philosophers’ Carnival is online! Among several other interesting things, it has some lines on the interpretation of an alien Philosophy and on the Skholiast‘s contribution to the “doing philosophy in a polycentric world” debate (about which see also this post on the Indian Philosophy Blog).
For personal reasons, I am also happy to see also a link to Gabriele Contessa’s plea for a more inclusive policy of inclusion of philosophers who do not have English as their first language. Why should this be important? Apart from the fact that it is fair to include everyone, independent of their (race, gender, sexual preferences… and) native tongue, inclusion of different perspectives is part of the enterprise of ideodiversity, which is what we (=scholars of non-Western philosophies) are all engaged with, isn’t it?
…you can read what works for me at the Warp, Weft and Way blog. Don’t forget to comment, here or there, about what works for you.
The 168th version of the Philosophers’ Carnival, with a link to Anand Vaidya’s blogpost on modality in Indian philosophy at the Indian Philosophy Blog, can be read here. Thanks to the reader(s) who pointed to Anand’s post! Keep on alerting the philosophers’ carnival website about interesting blogposts, especially about ones which might escape the editors’ attention because they do not deal with mainstream philosophy.
At the link above you can find an interesting article comparing the date of the mandate of the first woman senator (1932–) with that of the first afro american senator (1870–), and several other interesting data about the under-represenation of women in the US. For instance, the US are at the 73rd position (out of 138) of the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s ranking concerning the presence of women in the parlament. For the sake of comparison, Italy and Austria are at the 32nd and 33rd position respectively, India at the 104th.