Concept of time (kāla) in Indic philosophy.

Concept of time (kāla) in Indic philosophy.

Critical study of Nyāyamañjarī of Jayanta Bhaṭṭa, active 850-910, work on Nyaya philosophy.

Commentary on Hetvābhāsasāmānyanirukti, portion of Tattvacintāmaṇi of Gaṅgeśa, dealing with the definition of fallacies middle term in Navya Nyāya philosophy.

Study of the philosophical basis and elements of ayurvedic medicine in Garuḍapurāṇa.

Study of Advaita philosophy with reference to Buddhist doctrines of Śunyavāda and Vijñānavāda.

Analytic study of ethical conviction and beliefs with reference to the Advaitavada of Śaṅkarācārya and Śuddhādvaitavāda of Vallabhachars.

Neo-Nyaya treatise on verbal testimony, presenting semantic approaches to Sanskrit case and suffix; includes seven Sanskrit commentaries and exhaustive introduction in English.

Supercommentary on the concept of pervasion (vyāpti) from a topic in Tattvacintāmaṇi, a basic neo-Nyaya work by Gaṅgeśa.

Critical study of Viśvanātha Nyāyapañcānana Bhaṭṭācārya's Nyāyasūtravr̥tti, commentary on Gautama's Nyāyasūtra, basic tenets of the Nyaya school in Hindu philosophy.

Study of the last chapter of Tattvopaplavasiṁha, text on Cārvāka school of philosophy; includes text with English translation.

Supercommentary on Tantravārtika of Kumārila Bhaṭṭa, exegesis on Mīmāṃsābhāṣya of Śabarasvāmī, classical commentary on Mīmāṃsāsūtra by Jaimini.

Treatise on Viśiṣṭādvaita philosophy; Sanskrit text with coomentary and translation.

Pāṇinīyavyākaraṇodāharaṇakośaḥ; La grammaire paninéenne par ses exemples; Paninian Grammar through Its Examples, vol. I: Udāharaṇasamāhāraḥ; L’ensemble des exemples; The Collection of Examples; saṁśodhitaprakāśanam, édition révisée, revised edition. Two parts. By F. Grimal, V. Venkataraja Sarma, S. Lakshminarasimham, K. V. Ramakrishnamacharyulu, and Jagadeesh Bhat. Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha Series, vols. 309, 310; Collection indologie 93.1.1, 2. Tirupati: Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha; Pondichéry: École française d’Extrème-Orient; Institut Français de Pondichéry, 2018. Pp. xiii + 757 + 481. Rs. 680, 450.

Critical study of Pramāṇaratna of Raghunātha Bhaṭṭācārya, 16th century, treatise on the epistemology of the Mimamsa school in Hindu philosophy; based on the manuscript preserved in the Manuscript Library of the Asiatic Society, Calcutta.

Critical and comparative study of the Vedāntakaustubhaprabhā of Keśavakāśmīri Bhaṭṭācārya, commentary on Vedāntakaustubha of Śrīnivāsācārya, treatise on Vedanta.

Theory of perception in Ślokavārttika, work on Mimamsa philosophy by Kumārila Bhaṭṭa.

Theory of perception in Ślokavārttika, work on Mimamsa philosophy by Kumārila Bhaṭṭa.

Of all the cognitive means recognized in Indian philosophical schools, perception is considered the primary. Gautama, the philosopher who authored Nyāyasūtra—the first aphoristic collection of the Nyāya tenets—defines perception as the principal cause of true perceptual cognition, that is, of a cognition generated out of sense-object contact, non-deviating, non-vacillating, and nonverbal. Of these, the adjective “nonverbal”—the translated version of the Sanskrit term “avyapadeśyam”—ignited a serious debate that was argued for about a millennium. This article tries to trace different interpretations of (...) the term in the classical Nyāya commentarial literature, especially in the writings of Vātsyāyana, Uddyotakara, Vācaspati Miśra, and Jayanta Bhaṭṭa. It also attempts to show briefly how the contributions of these philosophers in the debate were influenced by the prevalent Indian philosophical scenario. (shrink)

Courier poetry is perhaps the richest and most vital literary genre of premodern South Asia, with hundreds of poems in a great variety of languages. But other than dubbing these poems “imitations” of Kālidāsa’s classical model, existing scholarship offers very little explanation of why this should be the case: why poets repeatedly turned to this literary form, exactly how they engaged with existing precedents, and what, if anything, was new in these many poems. In hopes of raising and beginning to (...) answer such questions, this essay closely examines one such work, the Haṃsasandeśa of Vāmana Bhaṭṭa Bāṇa, and its close correspondence with two important intertexts: Kālidāsa’s Meghasandeśa and Vedānta Deśika’s Haṃsasandeśa. I argue that Vāmana Bhaṭṭa Bāṇa’s work is an intricate mosaic that is put together from pieces—both absences and presences—that are taken from both these poems and that make sense only if we are familiar with their sources, and that this mosaic is nonetheless a surprisingly new and independent statement. On the basis of this analysis, I go on to suggest that novelty in the genre is partly made possible precisely through dense engagement with the vocabulary, figures of speech, situations, and other building blocks of the intertexts, a practice that often results in a heightened mode of density. (shrink)

Study on the commentary of neo-Nyaya school in Indic philosophy; portion of Tattvacintāmaṇi dealing with the definition of fallacious middle term (hetvābhāsa) and Siddhāntakaumudī by Bhaṭṭojī Dīkṣita, classical commentary on Aṣṭādhyāyī, basic work of Sanskrit grammar by Pāṇinī.

This is a new edition, revised and expanded, of a seminal work in the logic and philosophy of time, originally published in 1968. Arthur N. Prior was the founding father of temporal logic. His work has attracted increased attention in the decades since his death: its influence stretches beyond philosophy and logic to computer science and formal linguistics. Prior's fundamental ideas about the logic of time are presented here along with his investigations into the formal properties of time and tense. (...) Already in 1969 Prior had been planning a new edition of Papers on Time and Tense, to incorporate his more recent work. Because of his untimely death this plan was never followed through--till now. Seven important papers have been added to the original selection, as well as a comprehensive bibliography of his work and an illuminating interview with his widow, Mary Prior, about his life and work. In addition, the Polish logic which made the original book difficult for many readers has been replaced by standard logical notation. This new edition will secure the classic status of the book. (shrink)

Ravelingien et al1 argue that, given the restrictions that must be imposed on recipients of xenotransplanted organs, we should conduct clinical trials of xenotransplantation only on patients in a persistent vegetative state. I argue that there is no ethical barrier to using terminally ill patients instead. Such patients can choose to waive their rights to the liberties that xenotransplantation would probably restrict; it is surely rational to prefer to waive your rights rather than to die, and permissible to allow patients (...) to make this choice.Perhaps the single most important advance in the history of moral thought occurred when it came to be generally recognised that all people are protected by rights that are inviolable, at least without their consent. The precise nature and content of these rights is controversial, but there is a consensus among reasonable people over their core. We all have a right to life, to liberty, to security of person and to equality before the law. Other rights—so-called positive rights, such as the right to economic security, or cultural rights, for instance—may be controversial, but we all agree at least on these.Ravelingien et al1 therefore seem to be on solid ground when they conclude that it would not be permissible to use living persons as subjects in clinical trials of xenotransplantation, as such trials, potentially or actually, result in the violation of the core human rights of the subjects. Their argument is as follows:" Xenotransplantation carries with it a currently unquantifiable risk of the transmission of viruses, from the animal that is the source of the organ transplanted, to the human recipient. Such viruses could have potentially catastrophic consequences, up to and including triggering a global and devastating pandemic. Therefore, it would be necessary to monitor the health status of recipients of … ". (shrink)

This is the compelling story of one of the most fascinating thinkers of the twentieth century- a richly toned portrait of a modern-day Thoreau.

Avicenna holds that since God has existed from all eternity and is immutable and impassible, he cannot come to have an attribute or feature that he has not had from all eternity. He also claims for the simultaneous causation. A puzzle arises when we consider God’s creating this world. If God is immutable and impassible, then his attributes associated with his creating this world are unchanging. So, God must have been creating the world from all eternity. But then God’s creative (...) act, one might object, seems to be no different from a matter of natural necessity. This is a threat to divine freedom, for God would then have no choice concerning his creative action. Anthony Ruffus and Jon McGinnis argue that this puzzle can be solved in such a way that Avicenna can consistently affirm divine freedom along with divine simplicity. They suggest that Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī’s interpretation might help to show that it is false that Avicenna’s God cannot choose absolutely. For it is still open to him to choose either to create eternally or to refrain from creating anything at all. Ruffus and McGinnis argue that since creating or not creating anything at all do not correspond to two distinct concepts, Avicenna’s account of divine simplicity, which denies any multiplicity in divine mind, is safeguarded along with divine freedom. I claim that God’s omnirationality requiring that he always acts for reasons is a serious threat to such an interpretation. (shrink)

Auf Grund aller oben erörterten Betrachtungen und Tatsachen können wir jetzt die folgenden allgemeinen Gesetze der organischen Evolution erwähnen, die bzw. sich an die unmittelbaren Ursachen, Mechanismen und Tendenzen der Evolution beziehen: Unmittelbare Ursachen: das Gesetz der Mutation; Mechanismen: das Gesetz der natürlichen Auswahl : Tendenzen: das Gesetz der funktionellen Differenzierung; das Gesetz der Koordinierung der sich differenzierenden Funktionen; das Gesetz der Integrierung der funktionellen Systemen; das Gesetz der funktionellen Verbesserung des Lebens; das Gesetz der Beschleunigung der Evolution.Alle diese Gesetze (...) bilden zusammen ein einheitliches Ganzes und sind eher als Teilaus drücke eines einzelnen allgemeinen Gesetzes der organischen Evolution aufzufassen. Ob der Verfasser eine richtige Interpretation der Tatsachen gefunden hat, darüber darf man diskutieren; — das ist nur die Fragestellung.Das Problem selbst ist sowohl theoretisch wie auch praktisch sehr wichtig, so dass wir kein menschliches Recht haben um seine Lösung den künftigen Generationen zu überlassen.Life is considered as a functional whole, but not in the holistic sense of the word, because of an essentially different interpretation of the role of the individual element in the evolution of the functional system at various levels of the organisation of the life. This paper contains the following chapters: a) introduction, b) the unity of the life, c) the main questions of the theory of evolution, d) some regularities of organic evolution, and e) the general laws of organic evolution.The following general laws, referring to the immediate causes, mechanisms and tendences of evolution are formulated. the law of mutation , the law of selection , the law of functional differentiation, the law of coordination of the differentiating functions, the law of integration of the functional systems, the law of functional perfection of the life, the law of acceleration of the evolution.All this laws form together an internally coherent system, which may be considered as the unitary law of evolution. (shrink)

Auf Grund aller oben erörterten Betrachtungen und Tatsachen können wir jetzt die folgenden allgemeinen Gesetze der organischen Evolution erwähnen, die bzw. sich an die unmittelbaren Ursachen, Mechanismen und Tendenzen der Evolution beziehen: Alle diese Gesetze bilden zusammen ein einheitliches Ganzes und sind eher als Teilaus drücke eines einzelnen allgemeinen Gesetzes der organischen Evolution aufzufassen. Ob der Verfasser eine richtige Interpretation der Tatsachen gefunden hat, darüber darf man diskutieren; — das ist nur die Fragestellung. Das Problem selbst ist sowohl theoretisch wie (...) auch praktisch sehr wichtig, so dass wir kein menschliches Recht haben um seine Lösung den künftigen Generationen zu überlassen. (shrink)

The transgender population generally faces rights violations and discrimination in their day-to-day lives, which was exacerbated during the recent pandemic. This necessitates close scrutiny from an ethics perspective. Following directives from a 2014 Supreme Court judgement, Kerala became the first Indian state to implement a comprehensive policy to enforce the constitutional rights of transgender people. Despite such positive actions, a basic social tendency not to respect gender diversity has led to discrimination and marginalization. This was very evident during the pandemic. (...) In this empirical work, we have documented the lives of the transgender community during the pandemic wherein they share experiences related to livelihood, interaction with the healthcare system, and acceptance in society vis-à-vis the pandemic. Simply providing third-gender status will not help the gender-marginalized community to grow to their fullest potential and have a better lifestyle on par with others in mainstream society. (shrink)

Tres filósofos catalanes: Joaquín Xirau. Eduardo Nicol. José Ferrater Mora.--La herencia de Ortega y Gasset: José Gaos. Luis Recaséns Siches. Manuel Granell. Francisco Ayala. María Zambrano.--Dos filósofos independientes: Juan D. García Bacca. Eugenio Imaz.--Panorama general de la filosofía española en América.