Editorial ROBIN LE POIDEVIN, Religious Studies , FirstView Article(s).

I take this opportunity of correcting a particularly reprehensible error of my own on p. 140 of my edition of these poems. At A.A. 1. 730 read ‘…hoc multri †non ualuisse† putant’; and at 11. 3-4 of the critical apparatus read ‘equidem multi utique’ eqs. In other words, the manuscripts are unanimous in offering multi. I hope that Dr. Lenz will be glad to have this evidence of our common humanity.

In this paper, it is argued that the prima facie conflict between special relativity and the quantum-mechanical collapse postulate is only apparent, and that the seemingly incompatible accounts of entangled systems undergoing collapse yielded by different reference frames can be regarded as no more than differing accounts of the same processes and events. Attention to the transformation properties of quantum-mechanical states undergoing unitary, non-collapse evolution points the way to a treatment of collapse evolution consistent with the demands of relativity.

This bibliography signals a monumental event in philosophical research and for the future of comparative philosophy, East and West. It is in effect the first volume of the proposed multi-volumed Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies which has been inaugurated with this research tool. The outline of the bibliography will constitute the table of contents for the subsequent volumes of the forthcoming encyclopedia, now being written by an international team of scholars. The entire enterprise is sponsored by the American Institute of Indian (...) Studies and is under their general supervision. The bibliography, which has taken five years to complete and consists of 9222 entries, will be revised periodically as more material is compiled from the Indian languages and as contemporary work continues. Since Indian thought systems do not clearly differentiate between religious and philosophical expression, the compiler limited his selections to the Indian darsanas and vyakaranas. Indian literature is included if it is philosophical throughout, theoretical in function, and expository in content. This excludes the more didactic literature such as religious scriptures and classics. Three general sections divide the work: Sanskrit texts with authors known; Sanskrit texts with authors unknown; secondary literature arranged according to the various philosophical schools. General sections on Jainism, the traditions of Buddhism, and Hinduism offer philosophical sources for the major Indian religions. The listings are chronological within a particular subject. This not only facilitates additions to the bibliography but also gives a focus to scholarly discussion on a particular point. The work ends with three indices: Index of Names of Persons; Index of Titles ; Index of Books and Articles. The final index should prove the most useful to the researcher and general scholar. The publishing of the bibliography, done in India and according to Indian standards, is inferior in binding and paper stock. The price, Rs.80., has been listed in American bookstores at various prices from $18.00 to $24.00 for those who do not wish to order directly from the Indian publisher. The American Institute of Indian Studies should be commended for directing this work and every effort should be made for the completion of the entire encyclopedia. In terms of Asian studies it is the most significant publishing venture since the appearance of Max Mueller’s Sacred Books of the East over a century ago. Mueller opened the world of Asian religions to Western investigation while this bibliography should expose the breadth of Indian philosophy both in its intrinsic value and its effect upon world philosophy.—W. C. C. (shrink)

"The aim of this study is three-fold: to organize the surviving data on the life of Epicurus into a consequential biographical sketch so as to throw some light upon the growth of his personality and the development of his philosophy; second, to present a new interpretation of his doctrines based upon less emended remains of his writings; and third, to win attention for the importance of Epicureanism as a bridge of transition from the classical philosophies of Greece to the Christian (...) religion." Scholarly and readable, the work is highly critical of the accepted views of Zeller, Usener, nicks and Bailey.--W. C. (shrink)

"An invitation addressed to the average reader to learn about, and to join in, the eternal quest." The author deals, in a series of informal, non-technical chapters, with such topics as reality, life, death, God, man, beauty, and the good life.--W. C.

This book reflects an extraordinary linguistic and philosophical capacity resulting in a faultless piece of scholarship. Representing the first Western language translation of a major Buddhist scripture, it is comprised of a fifty page textual and philosophical reconstruction, with the remainder of the book consisting of a translation made from Tibetan, Chinese, and Japanese renditions, and Sanskrit fragments of a Mahayana text. The original text is attributed to a Mahasanghika school of Buddhism from the Andhra region of South India in (...) the third century A.D. The text, which was to have great popularity in early Indian Buddhism and in the entire development of Chinese and Japanese Buddhism, gave inspiration to such classics as the Lankavatara Sutra and The Awakening of Faith. (shrink)

A highly technical report on recent physiological research by an eminent scientist. The philosophical implications for consciousness, perception, free-will, and memory are treated briefly in the final chapter. The author maintains that a mind-brain dualism and interactionism is the only fruitful working hypothesis, and, in opposition to some recent philosophers, that its discussion is scientifically worthwhile.--W.C.

A description and critical estimate, by faculty and alumni, of the famous St. John's New Program in the liberal arts, covering the first 17 years of its operation.--W. C.

The author of this book directs philosophical and scientific research in kundalini yoga in India and the United States. Yoga is generally considered by Krishna as the acceleration of natural processes to form the mind to higher states of consciousness. The thesis in this volume and previous writing of the author is that kundalini yoga is a natural device, the cultivation of a biological process, which leads to transcendent states of consciousness. What underlies this presupposition is Krishna’s belief that all (...) religion has a base in the psychosomatic makeup of man and, consequently, a complementary biological fundament as well. Effort is taken to interpret the ancient writers on yoga according to contemporary norms of literary and scientific analysis. He shows that much of classical writing on yoga, and kundalini in particular, is cast into metaphorical language which resorts to anatomical and physiological knowledge drawn from the individual experiences of the seers and not from the study of human anatomy and physiology. From the scientific viewpoint he establishes that some of the basic assumptions of kundalini yoga have no existence in reality. (shrink)