- elisa freschi
ÖAW IKGA Hollandstraße 11--13
1020 Wien, Austria
Elisa Freschi
University of Toronto, Department of Philosophy and IHPST, Faculty Member
- Quotations, South Asian Studies, Religion, Philosophy, Theology, Mīmāṃsā, and 51 morePhilology, Research Methodology, Ancient Texts, Action Theory, Analytic Philosophy, Applied Philosophy, Comparative Philosophy, Philosophy Of Language, Continental Philosophy, Epistemology, Hermeneutics, Indian Philosophy, Philosophy of Agency, Philosophy Of Law, Philosophy Of Religion, Sanskrit, Sanskrit language and literature, Vyakarana, Buddhist Studies, Mimamsa, Happiness, Ancient Philosophy, Intertextuality, Asian Religions, German Literature and Culture, Contemporary Indian Philosophy, South Asian Languages, Tibetan Studies, Free Will, Manipravalam, Epistemology of Testimony, South Asian Religions, Phenomenology, Philosophy of the Subject, Contemporary Continental Philosophy, Buddhist Philosophy, Shastra, Indian studies, Textual Criticism, Text Linguistics, History of Linguistics, Epistemic Justification, Indian Linguistics, Testimony, Indology, History of Indian Philosophy, Extended Sanskrit Grammar, Ramanuja, History of Philosophy, Śrī Vaiṣṇavism, and History of Atheismedit
- My long-term program is to make Philosophy in the Sanskrit cosmopolis part of "Philosophy". Just like the ideas of Ge... moreMy long-term program is to make Philosophy in the Sanskrit cosmopolis part of "Philosophy". Just like the ideas of German, English, French, Italian… philosophers are all likely to be found in the same book about "History of Philosophy" or "Moral Philosophy", I would like Sanskrit thinkers not to be banned in separate ghettos (books on "Indian Philosophy" or, at best, chapters on "Indian Philosophy" kept well separated from the rest).
Such an enterprise can only be a collective one, insofar as one needs to (critically) edit, translate, analyse, discuss a huge number of texts. Hence, I am keen to participate and initiate every kind of undertaking ultimately leading to this goal.
I hold a degree in Philosophy and a PhD in Sanskrit. I am currently working at the Austrian Academy of Sciences and at the University of Toronto and I have published books (Brill, Peter Lang), book chapters (please click on "papers" to see the complete list) and articles (Journal of Indian Philosophy, Nagoya Studies, Indo-Iranian Journal, WZKS, RSO, RiSS and several others) on various topics of Sanskrit (and) philosophy. I have been invited to speak at several conferences and I organized many myself. I enjoy discussing and am grateful for honest criticisms. To see some of my favourite collaborative projects, check this webpage: https://asiaticacoffeebreak.wordpress.com/ or this one: http://indianphilosophyblog.org
For further ideas, please check my blog: elisafreschi.com or follow me on twitter: @elisa_freschiedit
KERVAN - International Journal of Afro-Asiatic Studies, vol. 21, Turin 2017
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This edited book is part of the Coffee Break Project
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“Adaptive reuse,” an influential theoretical concept in the field of architecture, describes the reuse of partly reconstructed buildings for purposes different from those for which they were originally erected. In the present volume, this... more
“Adaptive reuse,” an influential theoretical concept in the field of architecture, describes the reuse of partly reconstructed buildings for purposes different from those for which they were originally erected. In the present volume, this concept is for the first time transferred from its edificial application to a wider specter of cultural activities, namely to the composition of texts and to the creation of concepts and rituals. The volume opens with an introduction in which the editors explain their understanding of of adaptive reuse and its innovative application to cultural studies. They differentiate between simple re-use and adaptive reuse as two ideal types of re(-)use. Simple re-use is the resumption of a previous use without a strong change of purpose. An item is simply used again, because it is readily available. Adaptive reuse implies more. The reuser aims at well-definable purposes, e.g., adding prestige, credibility or authority to the newly created work. The reused elements have therefore to be recognizable. Adaptive reuse ideally involves a strong change of usage, and it is not primarily motivated economically. The twelve main chapters of the volume are divided into four thematic sections. Section 1, “Adaptive Reuse of Indian Philosophy and Other Systems of Knowledge,” consists of five case studies by Philipp Maas, Himal Trikha, Ivan Andrijanic, Yasutaka Muroya and Malhar Kulkarni dealing with the adaptive reuse of Sanskrit philosophical and grammatical texts in Sanskrit works of philosophy, grammar and poetry. In all these cases, adaptive reuse serves the creation of new forms and contents within a traditionally established framework in which the prestige of the sources of adaptive reuse reflects upon its target. In the second section, entitled “Adaptive Reuse of Tropes,” Elena Mucciarelli and Cristina Bignami analyze the motif of the chariot in Vedic, medieval and contemporary works and rituals and fruitfully employ the concept of adaptive reuse in various religious contexts. The chapters of the third section “Adaptive Reuse of Untraced and Virtual Texts” by Daniele Cuneo, Kiyokazu Okita, Elisa Freschi and Cezary Galewicz deal again with philosophical and religious texts, this time focusing on the adaptive reuse of sources that are no longer available or did never exist. It emerges from these studies that reuse of virtual texts was frequently intended to support the introduction of innovations into established traditions. In some cases, the prestige of the reusing works even reflected back on the allegedly reused source. Finally, the chapter by Sven Sellmer in the fourth section “Reuse from the Perspective of the Digital Humanities” deals with the computer-based identification of possibly reused text-passages in epic literature that otherwise would remain undetectable.
Research Interests: Jainism, Indian Philosophy, Buddhist Philosophy, Yoga Philosophy, Sanskrit language and literature, and 21 moreVyakarana, Sanskrit, Adaptive Reuse, Indian Art, Advaita Vedanta, Mimamsa, Nyaya, Mahabharata, Sankara, Ancient Indian Archaeology, VEDA, Gaudiya Vaishnavism, Quotations, Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta, History of Alankarashastra, Kavya, Dharmakīrti, Religious Processions, Dhvani and Rasa Theory, Textual Reuse, and Dvaita Vedānta
Epistemology of Sacred Texts, Exhortation, Language, Duty, Sacrifice and Hermeneutics according to Prābhākara Mīmāṃsā.
Research Interests: Indian Philosophy, Mimesis, Indian studies, Yoga, Textual Criticism, and 25 morePhilosophy Of Law, Oral Traditions, Codicology, Theological exegesis, Orality, Mimamsa, Brahmanism, Deontic Logic, Philology, Codicology, Critical Edition, Manuscripts, History of Exegesis, Indology, Semiotic, VEDA, Kashmir Shaivism, Methodology of the social sciences, Shaiva Tantra, Mantra, Philosophy of Norms, Philosophical Deontics, Nomologics, Philosophy of Truth, Ludwig Wittgenstein's Philosophy of Language, Shastra, and Dharmasutras
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This study focuses on the devices implemented in Classical Indian texts on ritual and language in order to develop a structure of rules in an economic and systematic way. These devices presuppose a spatial approach to ritual and language,... more
This study focuses on the devices implemented in Classical Indian texts on ritual and language in order to develop a structure of rules in an economic and systematic way. These devices presuppose a spatial approach to ritual and language, one whihc deals for instance with absences as substitutions within a pre-existing grid, and not as temporal disappearances. In this way, the study reveals a key feature of some among the most influential schools of Indian thoughts. The sources used are Kalpasūtras, Vyākaraṇa and Mīmāṃsā, three textual traditions which developed alongside each other, sharing ---as the volume shows--- common presuppositions and methodologies. The book will be of interest for Sanskritists, scholars of ritual exegesis and of the history of linguistics.
The publishing house agreed to have me upload a copy of the book one year after its publication, thus we will upload a copy in September 2015.
The publishing house agreed to have me upload a copy of the book one year after its publication, thus we will upload a copy in September 2015.
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Centered around the analysis of the prescriptive portion of the Vedas, the Sanskrit philosophical school of Mīmāṃsā provides a treasure trove of normative investigations. We focus on the leading Mīmāṃsā authors Prabhākara, Kumārila and... more
Centered around the analysis of the prescriptive portion of the Vedas, the Sanskrit philosophical school of Mīmāṃsā provides a treasure trove of normative investigations. We focus on the leading Mīmāṃsā authors Prabhākara, Kumārila and Maṇḍana, and discuss three modal logics that formalize their deontic theories. In the first part of this paper, we use logic to analyze, compare and clarify the various solutions to the śyena controversy, a two-thousand-year-old problem arising from seemingly conflicting commands in the Vedas. In the second part, the formalized Mīmāṃsā theories are analyzed and employed to provide alternative perspectives on well-known paradoxes from the contemporary field of deontic logic. Thus, we go from logic to Mīmāṃsā and back again.
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Research Interests: Humanities and Art
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Research Interests: Hinduism and Omniscience
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"Historically, Mīmāṃsakas probably started inquiring into a ``subject” independently of the emergence of the controversy on the nature and existence of a Self which was deemed to extend throughout classical Indian philosophy. They... more
"Historically, Mīmāṃsakas probably started inquiring into a ``subject” independently of the emergence of the controversy on the nature and existence of a Self which was deemed to extend throughout classical Indian philosophy. They were led to that theme because of the Vedic prescriptions related to the agent of sacrifice. As a matter of fact, Mīmāṃsakas also interpret Upaniṣadic statements about the ātman (``Self'') as referring to the agent of sacrifice. Such an agent is in turn identified by his/her desire for the result of the sacrifice. In summary, the sacrificial agent emerges as philosophical ``subject” through his/her desire for something. Since the subject is interpreted as, first of all, a desiring subject, it is necessarily active, because desire incites one to undertake actions. This stress on activity is typical of Mīmāṃsā (and, later, Kashmir Śaiva philosophy), against the Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika and Advaita-Vedānta idea of a subject withdrawing from any kind of worldly concern, including knowledge. On the other hand, this desiring subject is not identified with the body, which is only said to be one of its instruments. Hence, the Mīmāṃsā position refutes any kind of physicalism (including the milder form of a subject unavoidably and originally inseparable from its body, as maintained by P.F. Strawson in Individuals, 1959) and stresses the willing dimension of the subject instead. By maintaining this view, do Mīmāṃsakas aim at an ontology of the self, or at reconstructing our inner experience of the subjectivity-phenomenon? If the former is the case, can the Mīmāṃsā account face the challenges of modern and contemporary critiques of the self (reductionism, ``Bundle theory", etc.)? Does it differ from R. Chisholm's approach of the self as ``innocent until proven guilty"? These questions will be dealt with especially from the viewpoint of Rāmānujācārya, a late Prābhākara Mīmāṃsā author. As a tentative solution, the possibility is discussed, that Rāmānujācārya (and Prābhākara Mīmāṃsā) highlighted desire and action as key elements of subjectivity in order to address the problem of the subject's link with ``its" body and of the subject self-recognition of itself as a subject."
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This essay debates the way Daya Krishna reinterpreted some dialectic elements of classical Indian philosophy, with a special focus on “dialogue” and “counterposition.” The essay subsequently analyses the consequence of this... more
This essay debates the way Daya Krishna reinterpreted some dialectic elements of classical Indian philosophy, with a special focus on “dialogue” and “counterposition.” The essay subsequently analyses the consequence of this reinterpretation on contemporary Indian philosophy.1
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Why not choose the fascinating path of challenging ourselves with a different terrain?
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575 © 2017 by University of Hawai‘i Press Laozi 老子: “When engaging in study there is daily increase, when listening to dao there is daily decrease.” Similarly, readers may be curious about Sigurðsson’s thoughts on other issues that... more
575 © 2017 by University of Hawai‘i Press Laozi 老子: “When engaging in study there is daily increase, when listening to dao there is daily decrease.” Similarly, readers may be curious about Sigurðsson’s thoughts on other issues that possibly connect Daoist and Confucian texts with regard to ritual or humanization, such as has been shown by Edward Slingerland with wu-wei 無為 or Yang Guorong with ziran 自然. For example, Sigurðsson suggests that in the latter stages of one’s life more “spontaneous, personalized, and informal” ways of action can take over (p. 110). It would be interesting, then, to see how Sigurðsson might compare this type of spontaneous, personalized, and informal action to wu-wei or ziran and other related ideas in the Laozi or Zhuangzi. While these considerations may add to Sigurðsson’s work, it is already quite good. Sigurðsson tackles an especially important issue with precision in Classical Chinese, engages in a broad survey of relevant Chinese commentaries (both an...
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Reading Plant Lives: Borderline Beings in Indian Traditions by Ellison Banks Findly may at first seem an irritating experience for a Sanskrit scholar, since it appears to look in a seemingly uncritical way at many instances, taken from... more
Reading Plant Lives: Borderline Beings in Indian Traditions by Ellison Banks Findly may at first seem an irritating experience for a Sanskrit scholar, since it appears to look in a seemingly uncritical way at many instances, taken from all sorts of texts (medical, kāvya, religious, mythologic, folkloric, etc.) in which the view is held that plants are living beings and, hence, are deserving of respect. After reflection, however, this may be seen as a positive aspect of the book, since it introduces Sanskritists to environmental ethics and makes environmental activists (and not only those in India) aware of Sanskrit sources that they might use while advocating on behalf of that portion of the environment occupied by plants. Hence, if one shares the fundamental goal of environmental conservation, this book is not just an interesting study; it represents a positive step toward achieving this goal. Let me begin by outlining the purpose of the book. Most of the criticism that it may rais...
Contents: Scientific descriptive methods - Substitution patterns - Zero-theories - Extra-mathematical concept of placeholder - Conflict between different rules - Technical literatures in comparison: ritual and grammatical traditions -... more
Contents: Scientific descriptive methods - Substitution patterns - Zero-theories - Extra-mathematical concept of placeholder - Conflict between different rules - Technical literatures in comparison: ritual and grammatical traditions - Space (vs. time) as conceptual background - tantra (simultaneous application) vs. prasanga (automatic involvement) - Automatic involvement and blocking of rules.
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We formalize networks of authored arguments. These networks are then mapped to \(ASPIC{^+}\) theories that subsequently instantiate Extended Argumentation Frameworks. Evaluation of arguments in the latter determines the status of the... more
We formalize networks of authored arguments. These networks are then mapped to \(ASPIC{^+}\) theories that subsequently instantiate Extended Argumentation Frameworks. Evaluation of arguments in the latter determines the status of the arguments in the source networks. The methodology is illustrated through a collaboration between scholars of South Asian philosophy, logicians and formal argumentation theorists, analyzing excerpts of Sanskrit texts concerning a controversial normative debate within the philosophical school of Mīmāṃsā.
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The article offers an overview of the deontic theory developed by the philosophical school of Mīm aṃs a, which is, and has been since the last centuries BCE, the main source of normative concepts in Sanskrit thought. Thus, the Mīm aṃs a... more
The article offers an overview of the deontic theory developed by the philosophical school of Mīm aṃs a, which is, and has been since the last centuries BCE, the main source of normative concepts in Sanskrit thought. Thus, the Mīm aṃs a deontics is interesting for any historian of philosophy and constitutes a thought-provoking occasion to rethink deontic concepts, taking advantage of centuries of systematic reflections on these topics. Some comparison with notions currently used in EuroAmerican normative theories and metaethical principles is offered in order to show possible points of contact and deep divergences. In more detail, after an introduction explaining the methodology and aims of our work, we discuss how Mīm aṃs a authors distinguished and defined some fundamental deontic concepts, such as different types of prescriptions and prohibitions. We then discuss how Mīm aṃs a authors approached the problem of conflicts among commands without jeopardising the validity of the norm...
Research Interests: Philosophy, Indian Philosophy, Sanskrit, Mimamsa, Deontic Logic, and 3 moreMīmāṃsā, Deontics, and Theoria
This introduction summarises the steps which led the scholars grouped in the Coffee Break group to undertake the project and then accompanied them from the awareness of the need to deconstruct the idea of geographic boundaries and,... more
This introduction summarises the steps which led the scholars grouped in the Coffee Break group to undertake the project and then accompanied them from the awareness of the need to deconstruct the idea of geographic boundaries and, consequently, of area studies such as “Indology” or “South Asian studies”, to the need to deconstruct disciplines such as “Philology” or “Literature” themselves, since they are also historically and culturally loaded and risk to tell one more about their subjects than about their alleged objects of study. This pars destruens is followed by a pars construens suggesting as an alternative a situated epistemology which refutes to essentialise the “Other” and, on a more practical level, by the constant implementation of team work.
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For decades, the gentle murder paradox has been a central challenge for deontic logic. This article investigates its millennia-old counterpart in Sanskrit philosophy: the śyena controversy. We analyze three solutions provided by Mı̄mām.... more
For decades, the gentle murder paradox has been a central challenge for deontic logic. This article investigates its millennia-old counterpart in Sanskrit philosophy: the śyena controversy. We analyze three solutions provided by Mı̄mām. sā, the Sanskrit philosophical school devoted to the analysis of normative reasoning in the Vedas, in which the controversy originated. We introduce axiomatizations and semantics for the modal logics formalizing the deontic theories of the main Mı̄mām. sā philosophers Prabhākara, Kumārila, and Man.d. ana. The resulting logics are used to analyze their distinct solutions to the śyena controversy, which we compare with formal approaches developed within the contemporary field of deontic logic.
In recent years, alongside with the publication of pessimistic views on the possibility of developing satisfactory proof systems for modal logic, there has been an impressive burst of new ideas, methods, and results for the proof theory... more
In recent years, alongside with the publication of pessimistic views on the possibility of developing satisfactory proof systems for modal logic, there has been an impressive burst of new ideas, methods, and results for the proof theory of modal and non-classical logics. All such endeavours converge to the creation of novel inferential methods that cover a wide variety of logics for which no analytic proof systems were previously known; they extend the methods of structural proof theory from pure logic to philosophical logics and axiomatic theories, and use a well developed semantic apparatus as a ground for the generation of proof systems. The purpose of this affiliated meeting is to bring together experts who are contributing to this growing field, to present their recent work and share ideas with a more generous time frame for talks and discussion and a specialized audience. The following specific topics will be treated by the talks to be presented at the meeting:
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The present introduction summarises the debate on the epistemological value of testimony, with a special focus on the reductionism vs. antireductionism polemics, and situates Indian philosophers within it. One thus sees that some Indian... more
The present introduction summarises the debate on the epistemological value of testimony, with a special focus on the reductionism vs. antireductionism polemics, and situates Indian philosophers within it. One thus sees that some Indian philosophical schools (especially Vaiśeṣika and Buddhist epistemology) attempted to reduce testimony to another, more fundamental, instrument of knowledge, typically to inference, whereas others (especially Mīmāṃṣā and Nyāya) emphasised the independent nature of testimony. The study then moves to the problem of the criteria for a reliable speaker and discusses border-line cases, such as that of speaking instruments (computers, clocks and the like). Finally, it looks at some promising and open-ended topics evoked by the Indian-European dialogue on testimony.
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How can a theist Vaiṣṇava write about the atheistic system of Mīmāṃsā? By means of thinking of God in a completely new way…
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What makes a text a “commentary”? The question is naive enough to allow a complicated answer. In Sanskrit there is not a single word for “commentary”. The present study focuses on an exemplary case study, that of Veṅkaṭanātha’s commentary... more
What makes a text a “commentary”? The question is naive enough to allow a complicated answer. In Sanskrit there is not a single word for “commentary”. The present study focuses on an exemplary case study, that of Veṅkaṭanātha’s commentary on the Seśvaramīmāṃsā, and concludes that Sanskrit philosophical commentaries share certain characteristics: 1. several given texts are their main interlocutors/they are mainly about a set of particular texts; 2. they belong to a genre in its own right and are not a minor specialisation for authors at the beginnings of their careers; 3. they are characterised by a varied but strong degree of textual reuse; 4. they are characterised by a shared interlanguage that their authors must have assumed was well known to their audiences; 5. they allow for a significant degree of innovation. The use of the plural in point No. 1 is discussed extensively within the paper.
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Research Interests: Jainism, Geography, Indian Philosophy, Buddhist Philosophy, Adaptive Reuse, and 15 moreIndian Art, Advaita Vedanta, Mimamsa, Nyaya, Mahabharata, Sankara, Ancient Indian Archaeology, Gaudiya Vaishnavism, Quotations, History of Alankarashastra, Kavya, Dharmakīrti, Religious Processions, Dhvani and Rasa Theory, and Dvaita Vedānta
The bulk of the present volume focuses on the reuse of Buddhist texts. The Introduction gives some background to the topic of textual reuse in general and discusses the reasons for undertaking the analysis of textual reuse within Buddhist... more
The bulk of the present volume focuses on the reuse of Buddhist texts. The Introduction gives some background to the topic of textual reuse in general and discusses the reasons for undertaking the analysis of textual reuse within Buddhist texts. It then elaborates on the extent of its pervasiveness within Buddhist literature through the example of Tibetan ritual texts. Lastly, it takes stock of the articles on text-reuse and discusses some general lines of interpretation of the phenomenon of textual reuse in Buddhism, highlighting the importance of the genre over that of the time and language of composition. Thus, philosophical or technical texts tend to quote explicitly, whereas ritual texts see the predominance of the conveyed message over the transparency of the transmission so that reuse is mostly silent. Religious texts of various forms come in between these two extremes.
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Ve?ka?an?tha (1269—1370) was the most important systematiser of the Vi?i???dvaita school of Ved?nta. This article describes his use of Buddhist sources and shows how Ve?ka?an?tha reused Buddhist texts to a much more significant extent... more
Ve?ka?an?tha (1269—1370) was the most important systematiser of the Vi?i???dvaita school of Ved?nta. This article describes his use of Buddhist sources and shows how Ve?ka?an?tha reused Buddhist texts to a much more significant extent than his predecessors Y?muna and R?m?nuja. The reused text-passages come mostly from the epistemological school of Buddhist philosophy (Dign?ga, Dharmak?rti and his followers) but there are important exceptions, attesting that Ve?ka?an?tha was also aware of Buddhist schools such as the Vaibh??ikas, of whom only little is preserved today. Given that Buddhist philosophy was no longer an active presence in South India at the time of Ve?ka?an?tha, his interest in it must be due to factors other than his polemical agenda. Perhaps, his project of enlarging Vi?i???dvaita Ved?nta made him confront outsiders such as Buddhist thinkers and his intellectual interest in philosophy made him engage in a genuine confrontation with them.
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published in M. Dasti and E. Bryant (eds.), Free Will, Agency, and Selfhood in Indian Philosophy, OUP 2014, pp. 137--163. UNCORRECTED DRAFT
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Rāmānujācārya’s Tantrarahasya, a philosophical treatise mainly dedicated to the hermeneutics and epistemology of the Pūrva Mīmāṃsā School, might be considered hardly more than a jigsaw of reused passages, since (at least) one third of it... more
Rāmānujācārya’s Tantrarahasya, a philosophical treatise mainly dedicated to the hermeneutics and epistemology of the Pūrva Mīmāṃsā School, might be considered hardly more than a jigsaw of reused passages, since (at least) one third of it has a direct source, and (at least) a further third has its roots in interlanguage usage. It is thus a perfect case study for investigating the compositional habits of philosophical authors in pre-modern śāstra literature. The article analyses the formal aspects of textual reuse by Rāmānujācārya and draws some general conclusions regarding the author’s intellectual affiliation to Prābhākara Mīmāṃsā on the basis of the way he reuses his school’s texts as compared to the reuse of other schools’ texts. A final section discusses the possibility of generalising these results to the approach to textual reuse of the whole Pūrva Mīmāṃsā.
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The present chapter has a double aim. On the one hand, I will try to show what Indian philosophers have to say on themes in contemporary western philosophy of action (from the nature of action to the role of intention). On the other, I... more
The present chapter has a double aim. On the one hand, I will try to show what Indian philosophers have to say on themes in contemporary western philosophy of action (from the nature of action to the role of intention). On the other, I shall also outline the Indian views ...
The book is an introduction to key concepts of Indian Philosophy, seen from the perspective of the influential school of Prābhākara Mīmāṃsā (flourished from the 7th until the 20th c. AD). It includes the edition and translation of... more
The book is an introduction to key concepts of Indian Philosophy, seen from the perspective of the influential school of Prābhākara Mīmāṃsā (flourished from the 7th until the 20th c. AD). It includes the edition and translation of Rāmānujācārya's Śāstraprameyapariccheda.
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The study of quotations is a largely unexplored field within Indian śāstric literature. Yet, this study may have major implications for the critical constitution of a text, the evaluation of its role within the historical development of... more
The study of quotations is a largely unexplored field within Indian śāstric literature. Yet, this study may have major implications for the critical constitution of a text, the evaluation of its role within the historical development of the ideas it represents and the understanding of Indian compositional habits. Moreover, it may call into question Western contemporary attitudes to texts as authored entities by showing how heavily this view depends on specific historical circumstances and has, hence, not always and everywhere been the rule. This article examines these issues in comparative context before focusing on a case study from the Tantrarahasya of the post thirteenth-century Prābhākara Mīmāṃsaka, Rāmānujācārya. In this article, I study all sorts of embedded texts, even if not acknowledged to be quotations as such. Hence, the study of quotations coincides with the study of how Indian authors composed their texts re-using previous texts as building blocks. I argue that quotations may also be a useful device for understanding an author’s compositional habits and his/her ‘originality’. This concept is in bad need of a definition applicable in Indian contexts. In fact, Indian classical authors may be judged rather flawed in terms of modern views of plagiarism and are all by and large non-original. Contemporary scholars often look in vain for monographs within Indian śāstra literature and find only commentaries and commentaries on commentaries. But, looking at the way texts are built through quotations and use quotations as springboards, one eventually understands that an Indian author’s skill (and hence originality) can be recognized indeed in his/her apt arrangement of earlier texts.
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The central role and the philosophical significance of the controversy about the existence of an ātman (‘‘self ’’) in Indian philosophy has been examined in Claus Oetke’s masterpiece ‘‘Ich’’ und das Ich, which philosophically investigates... more
The central role and the philosophical significance of the controversy about the existence of an ātman (‘‘self ’’) in Indian philosophy has been examined in Claus Oetke’s masterpiece ‘‘Ich’’ und das Ich, which philosophically investigates the conflicting opinions about the self and its nature in Theravāda Buddhism, Vaiśes ̇ ika, Nyāya, and Bhāt ̇ t ̇ amı̄mām ̇ sā. Alex Watson’s learned book The Self’s Awareness of Itself: Bhat ̇ t ̇ a Rāmakan ̇ t ̇ ha’s Arguments against the Buddhist Doctrine of No-Self introduces into this debate the views of a Śaiva Siddhānta author, Bhat ̇ t ̇ a Rāmakan ̇ t ̇ ha, who lived in Kashmir between circa A.D. 950 and 1000 (p. 115). In fact, thanks to the accurate work of Nidodi Ramachandra Bhatt, Dominic Goodall, and PierreSylvain Filliozat, among others, we already had excellent editions and translations of some of Rāmakan ̇ t ̇ ha’s works, whereas a philosophical appreciation of his contribution was still a desideratum. Watson has focused on a portion of the first chapter of Rāmakan ̇ t ̇ ha’s Nareśvaraparı̄ks ̇ āprakāśa (‘‘[Commentary throwing] light on [Sadyojyotis’] investigation into the human being and God’’—henceforth NPP ). The motivation behind Watson’s choice of author lies in the fact that, according to him (p. 77), Rāmakan ̇ t ̇ ha was the most dialectically engaged thinker of the Śaiva Siddhānta school (his predecessors and successors rather neglecting genuine philosophical confrontations with other schools). As well, this text in particular is the Śaiva Siddhānta text that devotes the ‘‘most space to dialogue with other traditions.’’ Moreover, ‘‘It is not only the amount of space devoted to, but also the manner of, this engagement with other traditions that sets the first chapter of NPP apart from earlier Śaiva Siddhānta texts, and indeed from many of the others by Rāmakan ̇ t ̇ ha’’ (p. 77). So, both because of its dialogic character and its content, an inquiry about the existence and nature of the self, the first chapter of the NPP allows Watson to insert Rāmakan ̇ t ̇ ha directly into the philosophical arena of classical Indian thought. The book is divided into five parts. An introduction presents an overview of the Indian controversy about the existence of an ātman (briefly outlining the theses of various Buddhist and Hindu schools), introduces Rāmakan ̇ t ̇ ha, and offers some editorial remarks about the NPP text. This is followed by four chapters in which portions of the first chapter of the NPP are critically edited, translated, and extensively commented on by Watson. The book’s chapters, and the paragraphs therein, present Watson’s own partitions of the text and are meant to guide its philosophical understanding by distinguishing the opponents’ views from those of the siddhāntin (the upholder of the correct view, identifiable with Rāmakan ̇ t ̇ ha himself) and by demonstrating the various steps of the argument within each view. The first argument Watson has selected from the NPP is dedicated to the inference of the self based on desire and the synthesis of cognitions, an inference most Naiyāyikas believe to be the only way to demonstrate the existence of the self, as well as to the Buddhist opposing arguments. The next chapter focuses on self-
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legitimization of the Brahman’s ritual authority and the king’s secular power; moreover, the Brahmanism in present-day Southeast Asia is a modern construction in the wake of modernization and the rise of nationalism. Obviously, it is... more
legitimization of the Brahman’s ritual authority and the king’s secular power; moreover, the Brahmanism in present-day Southeast Asia is a modern construction in the wake of modernization and the rise of nationalism. Obviously, it is impossible to draw a coherent conclusion out of a compendium of diverse fields and disciplines such as this volume. For instance, one of the broad conclusions of this volume is that a long, drawn-out period of sustained contact and exchange preceded the period of Indianization. A question naturally arises as to whether Southeast Asia was indeed Indianized before Indianization. This is one of the questions not reconciled in the volume – of course, this is a matter of definition, but Manguin’s opinion of keeping the term for the conventional sense, which is suggested in his introduction to the volume, seems to be a sound one. Nevertheless, this volume will definitely contribute towards understanding the protohistory of Southeast Asia, as it succeeds in providing a space for dialogue among archaeologists, historians, and scholars of other related disciplines of both India and Southeast Asia. Anyone seriously interested in early history of the region, or for that matter, anyone interested in the root of contemporary cultural exchange in the era of globalization, should benefit from reading this volume, as well as its companion volume Nagapattinam to Suvarnadwipa.
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This bibliography is edited by Digital Library & Museum Buddhist Studies. [全文] Correction Contribution. Serial No. 208708. Title. Book Review: "The Self's Awareness of Itself: Bha??a Rāmaka??ha's... more
This bibliography is edited by Digital Library & Museum Buddhist Studies. [全文] Correction Contribution. Serial No. 208708. Title. Book Review: "The Self's Awareness of Itself: Bha??a Rāmaka??ha's Arguments against the Buddhist Doctrine of No-Self". Author. Freschi, Elisa. ...
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"Alex Watson's learned book introduces the views of a Śaiva Siddhānta author, Bhaṭṭa Rāmakaṇṭha, who lived in Kashmir between A.D. 950 and 1000 ca. (p. 115), into the controversy about the existence of an ātman (“self”) in Indian... more
"Alex Watson's learned book introduces the views of a Śaiva Siddhānta author, Bhaṭṭa Rāmakaṇṭha, who lived in Kashmir between A.D. 950 and 1000 ca. (p. 115), into the controversy about the existence of an ātman (“self”) in Indian philosophy. Rāmakaṇṭha proposes, against his Buddhist opponents, that the self is tantamount to cognition (in this way, he believes he can prove that the Buddhist claim that there is nothing but cognition automatically leads to his own position).
But how could Rāmakaṇṭha account for the Śaiva Siddhānta idea that even after the attainment of liberation, the supreme self (Śiva) is different from the individual ones, if they are both nothing but cognition? Since Rāmakaṇṭha negates the distinction between dharma and dharmin, how could one determine the difference between Śiva and the individual selves without differentiating dharmas? Moreover, how could a cognition be said to be an agent (the agent-character of the self is stressed also by Watson, see pp. 90-2)? More specifically, as for that special kind of agent who is Śiva, his attributes of omniscience and omnipotence seem to presuppose that he is not (just) cognition. On this particular point Rāmakaṇṭha's agreement with his school's tenets is proven by, e.g., his commentary on Sadyojyotis' Mokṣakārikā, where he establishes God's existence by relying on the assumption that there must be an agent of commonly experienced effects and mentions the śaktis of knowledge, action and will as distinct from Śiva (ad MK 2).
Short, the thorough identification of self and cognition risks to collide with other teachings of the school."
This is a review of: http://www.academia.edu/4262729/ALEX_WATSON_THE_SELFS_AWARENESS_OF_ITSELF_BHA_A_R_MAKA_HAS_ARGUMENTS_AGAINST_THE_BUDDHIST_DOCTRINE_OF_NO-SELF_1_PUBLICATIONS_OF_THE_DE_NOBILI_RESEARCH_LIBRARY_EDITED_BYSammlung_de_Nobili_Institut_fur_Sudasien-_Tibetund_Buddhismuskunde
But how could Rāmakaṇṭha account for the Śaiva Siddhānta idea that even after the attainment of liberation, the supreme self (Śiva) is different from the individual ones, if they are both nothing but cognition? Since Rāmakaṇṭha negates the distinction between dharma and dharmin, how could one determine the difference between Śiva and the individual selves without differentiating dharmas? Moreover, how could a cognition be said to be an agent (the agent-character of the self is stressed also by Watson, see pp. 90-2)? More specifically, as for that special kind of agent who is Śiva, his attributes of omniscience and omnipotence seem to presuppose that he is not (just) cognition. On this particular point Rāmakaṇṭha's agreement with his school's tenets is proven by, e.g., his commentary on Sadyojyotis' Mokṣakārikā, where he establishes God's existence by relying on the assumption that there must be an agent of commonly experienced effects and mentions the śaktis of knowledge, action and will as distinct from Śiva (ad MK 2).
Short, the thorough identification of self and cognition risks to collide with other teachings of the school."
This is a review of: http://www.academia.edu/4262729/ALEX_WATSON_THE_SELFS_AWARENESS_OF_ITSELF_BHA_A_R_MAKA_HAS_ARGUMENTS_AGAINST_THE_BUDDHIST_DOCTRINE_OF_NO-SELF_1_PUBLICATIONS_OF_THE_DE_NOBILI_RESEARCH_LIBRARY_EDITED_BYSammlung_de_Nobili_Institut_fur_Sudasien-_Tibetund_Buddhismuskunde
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The Mīmāṃsānyāyasaṅgraha (henceforth MNS) is a rich compendium of Mīmāṃsā topics, organised in thematic units and following along the lines of the Mīmāṃsāsūtra (henceforth MS) as for the topic sequence. Just like the MS and much of the... more
The Mīmāṃsānyāyasaṅgraha (henceforth MNS) is a rich compendium of Mīmāṃsā topics, organised in thematic units and following along the lines of the Mīmāṃsāsūtra (henceforth MS) as for the topic sequence. Just like the MS and much of the post-classical Mīmāṃsā literature, it focuses primarily on ritual matters, often dealing even with minute technicalities. What distinguishes it from a ritual manual is that it locates ritual matters within a larger framework, such as that of action and injunction and their linguistic depiction (as bhāvanā and vidhi). Moreover, it emphasises a general approach highlighting the structure of rituals rather than just their details.
The chief purpose of the book consists in offering a detailed introduction to many Mīmāṃsā topics, and not in translating or presenting a unique masterwork of Indian philosophy to the public. The author of the MNS, known under several versions of the name ``Mahādeva Vedāntin" is not renowned among Sanskrit scholars, possibly because he was a late author (probably active only towards the end of the 17th c.). He has been a polygraph and has epitomised also Grammatical, Lexographic, Advaita Vedāntic and Sāṅkhya texts. Not being original is thus not an accident in his intellectual profile: Mahādeva Vedāntin belongs to the number of scholars (among whom also Āpadeva is included) who, starting after the 13th c., re-designed the lore of Indian \emph{śāstra}s rethinking, systematising and preparing it for the next generations (including ours, which has been deeply influenced by categories born in post-classical Indian doxography, such as that of the six darśanas).
The chief purpose of the book consists in offering a detailed introduction to many Mīmāṃsā topics, and not in translating or presenting a unique masterwork of Indian philosophy to the public. The author of the MNS, known under several versions of the name ``Mahādeva Vedāntin" is not renowned among Sanskrit scholars, possibly because he was a late author (probably active only towards the end of the 17th c.). He has been a polygraph and has epitomised also Grammatical, Lexographic, Advaita Vedāntic and Sāṅkhya texts. Not being original is thus not an accident in his intellectual profile: Mahādeva Vedāntin belongs to the number of scholars (among whom also Āpadeva is included) who, starting after the 13th c., re-designed the lore of Indian \emph{śāstra}s rethinking, systematising and preparing it for the next generations (including ours, which has been deeply influenced by categories born in post-classical Indian doxography, such as that of the six darśanas).
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I discuss here Angot's approach to "Indian" philosophy, as well as to how to translate Skt texts.
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"This review-article 1. examines some methodological issues related to Kataoka's choices in his critical edition, translation, and study; 2. discusses the need for setting priorities in Mīmāṃsā studies, the importance of studying... more
"This review-article
1. examines some methodological issues related to Kataoka's choices in his critical edition, translation, and study;
2. discusses the need for setting priorities in Mīmāṃsā studies,
the importance of studying quotations,
and the issue of intrinsic validity of cognition. "
1. examines some methodological issues related to Kataoka's choices in his critical edition, translation, and study;
2. discusses the need for setting priorities in Mīmāṃsā studies,
the importance of studying quotations,
and the issue of intrinsic validity of cognition. "
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offprint, published on IIJ 2014, pp. 166--174
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pre-print draft, published on JAOS 135.1 (2015), pp. 154--156
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This new study by Clooney juxtaposes the Biblical Song of Songs with a mystical Tamil text, the Tiruvāymoḻi. What connects them is the motif of a young girl's desperate love for someone who is either already absent or about to leave and... more
This new study by Clooney juxtaposes the Biblical Song of Songs with a mystical Tamil text, the Tiruvāymoḻi. What connects them is the motif of a young girl's desperate love for someone who is either already absent or about to leave and the fact that in both cases the absentee is interpreted as God. This leads to various shared problems: In terms of form, the question arises of why theology is made in poetical form; In terms of content, there is the conundrum of God's absence. Both are dealt with by Clooney through Urs von Balthasar's theopoetics and theodramatics, thus implying that poetry enlivens a theological drama, God's absence, which cannot have a straightforward solution, insofar as its lack of solution is what makes one's religious journey significant: "Loving god is always a risk" (p. 139).
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My most important publications with a very short description of each of them
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This is an introductory talk on Mīmāṃsā and deontic logic. If you want to listen to it, you can find an audio file here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/yrnhafphrhjoapj/2018-10-02%2019-56-55%20mimamsa%20talk.m4a?dl=0 For more information on... more
This is an introductory talk on Mīmāṃsā and deontic logic. If you want to listen to it, you can find an audio file here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/yrnhafphrhjoapj/2018-10-02%2019-56-55%20mimamsa%20talk.m4a?dl=0
For more information on the project of using deontic logic to formalise Mīmāṃsā, please visit our website: mimamsa.logic.at
https://www.dropbox.com/s/yrnhafphrhjoapj/2018-10-02%2019-56-55%20mimamsa%20talk.m4a?dl=0
For more information on the project of using deontic logic to formalise Mīmāṃsā, please visit our website: mimamsa.logic.at
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Veṅkaṭanātha (also known with the honorific title Vedānta Deśika, traditional dates 1269--1370), possibly the most prominent author of the South Indian philosophical and religious school of Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta, attempted a... more
Veṅkaṭanātha (also known with the honorific title Vedānta Deśika, traditional dates 1269--1370), possibly the most prominent author of the South Indian philosophical and religious school of Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta, attempted a philosophical synthesis that reached beyond the Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta school. In this sense, Vedānta Deśika was not just a learned successor of the scholar the tradition acknowledged as the founder of the school, Rāmānuja (traditional dates 917--1037), but also the builder of a new system with a different scope (ranging well beyond Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta and incorporating much more into it) and possibly with a different basis. What was this basis? Preliminary work has shown that it was probably constituted by Vedānta Deśika’s work on the more ancient school of Pūrva Mīmāṃsā. The Pūrva Mīmāṃsā had a history of long and complicated relations with the Vedānta: Some of the Vedānta authors had explicitly refuted the necessity to study Pūrva Mīmāṃsā and had claimed that their Vedānta was completely self-sufficient. By contrast, Rāmānuja had allowed for a space for Pūrva Mīmāṃsā in Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta, although only as a preliminary for the study of Vedanta. Vedānta Deśika used the same strategy as a way to incorporate new elements into a reconfigured Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta. Thus, the core of the system for Vedānta Deśika is no longer (Viśiṣṭādvaita) Vedānta (as in Rāmānuja) but the new unitary teaching of Pūrva and Uttara Pūrva Mīmāṃsā, their aikaśāstrya.
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In the case of the Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta school, one has the advantage of having some basic historical elements to judge about the development of the theological and philosophical thought of the school. We have, in fact, at least some... more
In the case of the Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta school, one has the advantage of having some basic historical elements to judge about the development of the theological and philosophical thought of the school. We have, in fact, at least some historical data about the time, place and personality of key figures such as Yāmuna, Rāmānuja and Veṅkaṭanātha and a good amount of works from them has survived and can be accessed. Some attempts have been made (e.g., by Oberhammer, Neevel, Mesquita) to offer a general interpretation of this early development, but many problems have remained open, and not only because of the lack of materials (regarding, e.g., Śrīvatsaṅka Miśra, Nāthamuni, important parts of Yāmuna's work, etc.).
This panels aims at joining scholars working on the early Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta, and making them discuss the development of Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta from its forerunners to a full-fledged philosophical and theological phenomenon. Possible leit-motivs in the analysis of this development can be topics such as:
—the increasing importance of the topic of aikaśāstrya, possibly paralleling the emphasis on the existence of just one God
—the adaptation of other schools to one's theistic approach (from Nyāya and Yoga in the case of Nāthamuni to Uttara Mīmāṃsā in the case of Rāmānuja, to Pūrva Mīmāṃsā and again Nyāya for Veṅkaṭanātha)
This panels aims at joining scholars working on the early Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta, and making them discuss the development of Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta from its forerunners to a full-fledged philosophical and theological phenomenon. Possible leit-motivs in the analysis of this development can be topics such as:
—the increasing importance of the topic of aikaśāstrya, possibly paralleling the emphasis on the existence of just one God
—the adaptation of other schools to one's theistic approach (from Nyāya and Yoga in the case of Nāthamuni to Uttara Mīmāṃsā in the case of Rāmānuja, to Pūrva Mīmāṃsā and again Nyāya for Veṅkaṭanātha)
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draft only of the presentation to be presented at the first EAAA conference, Olomouc, September 2014.
If you want a better copy, please email me.
If you want a better copy, please email me.
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Research Interests: Indian Philosophy, Intertextuality And Plagiarism, Indian studies, Sanskrit language and literature, Intertextuality, and 13 moreMimamsa, Indology, Mimamsa versus Vedanta, Quotations, bhakti, Rāmānuja, Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta, Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta, Rāmānuja, Vaisnavism, Especially Pancaratra Vaishnava, Veṅkaṭanātha, Vedānta Deśika, Yamunācārya, and Textual Reuse
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"When one tries to reflect on “nature” in Indian philosophy, one is firstly forced to reconsider how much this term is culturally loaded in the Western thought and culture.It is in fact difficult to think of “nature” outside the precincts... more
"When one tries to reflect on “nature” in Indian philosophy, one is firstly forced to reconsider how much this term is culturally loaded in the Western thought and culture.It is in fact difficult to think of “nature” outside the precincts of the Romantic exaltation of wild flora, fauna and landscapes as opposed to civilization and its flaws. In Indian philosophy in general, and in Prābhākara Mīmāṃsā in particular, by contrast, this kind of “nature” is conspicuous for its absence. The physical and biological world becomes an object of investigation only because it is among the objects of cognition (prameya), together with the self (ātman), the universals, the qualities, actions, etc.
Within this framework, I will focus on the Prābhākara Mīmāṃsā classification of the prameyas which are more closely related to what the West understands with nature (i.e., flora, fauna and the physical world), with a special emphasis on its specifically Mīmāṃsā traits. In this way, one will see, e.g., how Prābhākara authors differ from Naiyāyikas in that they deny the possibility of subtle entities whose bodies would be made of different substances than ours, and how they part company with the Purāṇas by denying the sentience of plants."
Within this framework, I will focus on the Prābhākara Mīmāṃsā classification of the prameyas which are more closely related to what the West understands with nature (i.e., flora, fauna and the physical world), with a special emphasis on its specifically Mīmāṃsā traits. In this way, one will see, e.g., how Prābhākara authors differ from Naiyāyikas in that they deny the possibility of subtle entities whose bodies would be made of different substances than ours, and how they part company with the Purāṇas by denying the sentience of plants."
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How can a theist Vaiṣṇava write about the atheistic system of Mīmāṃsā? By means of thinking of God in a completely new way…
How does Jayanta manage to enlarge the realm of valid texts well beyond the Veda? Which strategies does he accept or reject? The talk shows that he uses two basic models, one derived from Nyāya and one derived from Mīmāṃsā. Optional... more
How does Jayanta manage to enlarge the realm of valid texts well beyond the Veda? Which strategies does he accept or reject? The talk shows that he uses two basic models, one derived from Nyāya and one derived from Mīmāṃsā. Optional criteria, such as the consensus gentium or the appeal to emotions (disgust or instinctive appraisal) are discussed and rejected on a theoric level, but accepted when it comes to practical matters.
Jayanta displays a rich terminology referring to the relation between a linguistic element (śabda) and its corresponding artha. The latter is said by different objectors to be bāhya (external), vāstava (real), to exist bahir (`outside'),... more
Jayanta displays a rich terminology referring to the relation between a linguistic element (śabda) and its corresponding artha. The latter is said by different objectors to be bāhya (external), vāstava (real), to exist bahir (`outside'), sattāyā (`as existent') or, by contrast, to be only a jñāna (`cognition'), to exist pratītyā (`as notion') or ultimately not to exist (pāramārthiko nāsti). Are all these terms just synonyms? How to decide in case of doubt among equally plausible variant readings?
We believe that a strong guide must be the deep philosophical appreciation of the issues at stake. Just like in the case of other technical texts, team work is needed to access Indian linguistic texts and to know what one is reading and how to edit it.
We believe that a strong guide must be the deep philosophical appreciation of the issues at stake. Just like in the case of other technical texts, team work is needed to access Indian linguistic texts and to know what one is reading and how to edit it.
I will start with a short depiction of what is Mimamsa and which parts of Mimamsa (as for themes and texts) have been studied or neglected so far. Then, I will focus on Mimamsa linguistics, which is, I believe, interesting also for... more
I will start with a short depiction of what is Mimamsa and which parts of Mimamsa (as for themes and texts) have been studied or neglected so far. Then, I will focus on Mimamsa linguistics, which is, I believe, interesting also for contemporary linguists and philosophers of language. As an example, I will propose the discussion of the exhortative function of language in a book of Jayanta Bhatta's Nyayamanjari, where Mimamsa theses are discussed. This shall show that Jayanta's is a chief-text since it is philosophically intriguing and can hence appeal also to non-Sanskritists. As a matter of fact, I am working exactly on a project about Indian and Western linguistics which uses the Nyayamanjari as its core.
Il desiderio gioca un ruolo centrale nella filosofia indiana, in positivo e in negativo. In positivo, in quanto è il desiderio a promuovere l'azione, è cioè a causa del desiderio che si intraprende una qualsivoglia azione. In negativo,... more
Il desiderio gioca un ruolo centrale nella filosofia indiana, in positivo e in negativo. In positivo, in quanto è il desiderio a promuovere l'azione, è cioè a causa del desiderio che si intraprende una qualsivoglia azione. In negativo, perché secondo molte scuole filosofiche la salvezza è raggiungibile solo attraverso l'eliminazione dei desideri. Mi soffermerò anzitutto sul primo aspetto e sul suo sfondo rituale, poi –attraverso l'uso del concetto di desiderio nella filosofia contemporanea– sulle scuole che mirano all'eliminazione dei desideri o alla loro intensificazione.
The Mīmāṃsā theories on action are originally exegetical/linguistic devices. But do they also constitute or presuppose a general theory of action? My provisional answer is yes, insofar as 1. they are used not just in an exegetical context... more
The Mīmāṃsā theories on action are originally exegetical/linguistic devices. But do they also constitute or presuppose a general theory of action? My provisional answer is yes, insofar as 1. they are used not just in an exegetical context (see the pacati example), 2. they are used to address topics such as intentionality, effort, atoms' movements, which have nothing to do with both exegesis and linguistic analysis 3. they are used in debates against opponents of other schools who speak about movement and do not share the Mīmāṃsā theory of bhāvanā, 4. they are,at least in one case, explicitly independent of their linguistic form.
Historically, Mīmāṃsakas probably started inquiring into a ``subject” independently of the emergence of the controversy on the nature and existence of a Self which was deemed to extend throughout classical Indian philosophy. They were led... more
Historically, Mīmāṃsakas probably started inquiring into a ``subject” independently of the emergence of the controversy on the nature and existence of a Self which was deemed to extend throughout classical Indian philosophy. They were led to that theme because of the Vedic prescriptions related to the agent of sacrifice. As a matter of fact, Mīmāṃsakas also interpret Upaniṣadic statements about the ātman (``Self'') as referring to the agent of sacrifice. Such an agent is in turn identified by his/her desire for the result of the sacrifice. In summary, the sacrificial agent emerges as philosophical ``subject” through his/her desire for something.
Since the subject is interpreted as, first of all, a desiring subject, it is necessarily active, because desire incites one to undertake actions. This stress on activity is typical of Mīmāṃsā (and, later, Kashmir Śaiva philosophy), against the Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika and Advaita-Vedānta idea of a subject withdrawing from any kind of worldly concern, including knowledge. On the other hand, this desiring subject is not identified with the body, which is only said to be one of its instruments. Hence, the Mīmāṃsā position refutes any kind of physicalism (including the milder form of a subject unavoidably and originally inseparable from its body, as maintained by P.F. Strawson in Individuals, 1959) and stresses the willing dimension of the subject instead.
By maintaining this view, do Mīmāṃsakas aim at an ontology of the self, or at reconstructing our inner experience of the subjectivity-phenomenon? If the former is the case, can the Mīmāṃsā account face the challenges of modern and contemporary critiques of the self (reductionism, ``Bundle theory", etc.)? Does it differ from R. Chisholm's approach of the self as ``innocent until proven guilty"? These questions will be dealt with especially from the viewpoint of Rāmānujācārya, a late Prābhākara Mīmāṃsā author. As a tentative solution, the possibility is discussed, that Rāmānujācārya (and Prābhākara Mīmāṃsā) highlighted desire and action as key elements of subjectivity in order to address the problem of the subject's link with ``its" body and of the subject self-recognition of itself as a subject.
Since the subject is interpreted as, first of all, a desiring subject, it is necessarily active, because desire incites one to undertake actions. This stress on activity is typical of Mīmāṃsā (and, later, Kashmir Śaiva philosophy), against the Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika and Advaita-Vedānta idea of a subject withdrawing from any kind of worldly concern, including knowledge. On the other hand, this desiring subject is not identified with the body, which is only said to be one of its instruments. Hence, the Mīmāṃsā position refutes any kind of physicalism (including the milder form of a subject unavoidably and originally inseparable from its body, as maintained by P.F. Strawson in Individuals, 1959) and stresses the willing dimension of the subject instead.
By maintaining this view, do Mīmāṃsakas aim at an ontology of the self, or at reconstructing our inner experience of the subjectivity-phenomenon? If the former is the case, can the Mīmāṃsā account face the challenges of modern and contemporary critiques of the self (reductionism, ``Bundle theory", etc.)? Does it differ from R. Chisholm's approach of the self as ``innocent until proven guilty"? These questions will be dealt with especially from the viewpoint of Rāmānujācārya, a late Prābhākara Mīmāṃsā author. As a tentative solution, the possibility is discussed, that Rāmānujācārya (and Prābhākara Mīmāṃsā) highlighted desire and action as key elements of subjectivity in order to address the problem of the subject's link with ``its" body and of the subject self-recognition of itself as a subject.
unedited slides of my BA class titled (not by me) "Introduction to South Asian philosophy", University of Toronto, Fall 2020
Research Interests: Philosophy Of Language, Epistemology, Indian Philosophy, Indian Buddhism, Mimamsa, and 13 moreNyaya, History of South Asian Philosophy, South Asian religions, art, culture and philosophy, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Classical Indian Philosophy, Dignaga, Dharmakīrti, South Asian philosophy and religion, Apoha, Bhartrhari, Prābhākara Mīmāṃsā, Buddhist Sanskrit Philosophy, and Kumarila Bhatta
unedited slides of my class titled (not by me) "Introduction to South Asian philosophy", University of Toronto, Fall 2020
unedited slides of my class titled (not by me) "Introduction to South Asian philosophy", University of Toronto, Fall 2020
unedited slides of my class titled (not by me) "Introduction to South Asian philosophy", University of Toronto, Fall 2020
unedited slides of my BA class titled (not by me) "Introduction to South Asian philosophy", University of Toronto, Fall 2020
unedited slides of my class titled (not by me) "Introduction to South Asian philosophy", University of Toronto, Fall 2020
unedited slides of my class titled (not by me) "Introduction to South Asian philosophy", University of Toronto, Fall 2020
In the following you can read (in chronological sequence) all the teaching evaluations I received for some of my classes (evaluations are not carried out each semester in European universities). The evaluations about the classes... more
In the following you can read (in chronological sequence) all the teaching evaluations I received for some of my classes (evaluations are not carried out each semester in European universities).
The evaluations about the classes ``Devotion in South Asia, philological aspects", ``Devotion in South Asia, religious aspects" and ``Word and meaning. An introduction to Indian conceptions about language" contain also a comparison to the average values at the University of Vienna.
The evaluations about the classes ``Devotion in South Asia, philological aspects", ``Devotion in South Asia, religious aspects" and ``Word and meaning. An introduction to Indian conceptions about language" contain also a comparison to the average values at the University of Vienna.
Introduction to Indian Philosophy for BA (in German)
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My slides for a BA class held in Budapest, SS 2018.
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Introduction to Classical Indian Philosophy and Epistemology for graduate students of other departments.
IMAGES for the article with the same title.
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This is my first attempt to make sense of bhakti in Ramanuja's work, from the SriBhasya to the Gitabhasya and the Saranagatigadya. Any comments and criticisms would be more than welcome!
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This paper deals with the theory of significations (the so-called siddha- and sādhyavākyārthavāda-s) applied to the Sacred Texts (Vedas) in the school of Pūrva Mīmāṃsā, and then in the thoughts of Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja and Veṅkaṭanātha. It is... more
This paper deals with the theory of significations (the so-called siddha- and sādhyavākyārthavāda-s) applied to the Sacred Texts (Vedas) in the school of Pūrva Mīmāṃsā, and then in the thoughts of Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja and Veṅkaṭanātha. It is still a draft and I would be happy to receive comments or criticisms.
Research Interests:
An overview of Kumārila's major argument for "postulation" (arthāpatti) as a source of valid knowledge distinct from inference.
Research Interests:
Though well aware of the risks that we incur into by applying to Asia a terminology developed for the periodization of western cultural history, we would like to challenge the concept of the uniqueness and exceptionality of the European... more
Though well aware of the risks that we incur into by applying to Asia a terminology developed for the periodization of western cultural history, we would like to challenge the concept of the uniqueness and exceptionality of the European Renaissance and explore the possibility that there might have been renaissances—or renascences—also in different Asian cultures.
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Elisa Freschi : Three day seminar on South Asian philosophy - organization O.L. Lizzini and M. Martijn