Hey Everybody; Im just writing to announce an exciting summer course at Trent this summer -- PHIL 2160H: Asian Philosophy. The course will run in the first summer term, May 12th - June 21st, on the Peterborough campus. Amongst other schools, we will look at the philosophical foundations of the classical Yoga school in some detail, and read Patañjalis Yoga Sūtras in their entirety. Please see the attached flyer and course description, and feel free to get in touch ([email protected]) if you have any questions. Course Description: Asia is home to two of the world’s great philosophical traditions: the Indian and Chinese traditions. This course will introduce students to each of these two traditions, by surveying a selection of their key philosophical texts, thinkers, concepts, themes, and schools. We will cover Hindu philosophy in general and the classical Yoga school in particular, along with Indian Buddhism, Chinese Buddhism, and Daoism. Amongst the texts and thinkers studied in this course will include: the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali, Nāgārjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārikā (Versus on the Middle), Confucius Analects, and Lao Tzu’s Dao De Jing. Our study of Indian philosophy will commence with a brief introduction to each of the six orthodox darśanas (perspectives or schools) of Hindu philosophy, in the context of which special attention will be paid to the classical Yoga school of Patañjali. We will probe important strands of influence, and points of contrast, between the Yoga school and other Indian philosophical traditions, such as those of the Sānkhya school and of Jainism. Philosophical issues to be considered will include: What are persons and what is their relationship to nature? Is it ever morally permissible to harm other living beings (e.g., plants and animals)? Is it possible to avoid inducing such harm through extraordinary feats of mental and physical self-discipline? How do our past experiences affect our present patterns of thought and action? What is suffering and how does it relate to action and to morality? Is moral authenticity possible through the meditative discipline of the mind? Turning then to our unit on Indian Buddhism, we will first introduce the doctrinal foundations of Buddhist philosophy including the four noble truths, the eight-fold path, and the three marks of existence (tri-laksana). Special attention will be paid, moreover, both to the Buddhist analysis of suffering (duhkha), as well as to the core Buddhist doctrine of anātman (no-abiding-self). Following this, we will consider Nāgārjuna’s powerful criticisms of mainstream Buddhist philosophy in the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, and explore the related debate between Mahāyāna (or ‘Great Vehicle’) and Hīnayāna (or ‘Little Vehicle’) Buddhism regarding the nature and ultimate reality of Samsāra (cycle of rebirths), Karma (action; fruits of action), and Nirvāna (liberation). In the final third of the course, we will then turn our attention to Chinese philosophy and in particular to the schools of Humanism, Daoism, and Buddhism. As we shall see, though some of these schools are influenced markedly by the others, and in spite of the fact that all resonate with important themes of Indian thinking as well, Chinese philosophy is nevertheless characterized by several lively and interrelated debates surrounding issues in political philosophy, ethics, metaphysics, and epistemology. Amongst these controversies are included questions such as: What is the nature of good government? What qualities make for an ethical individual or statesman, and how might one cultivate them? What sorts of relationships should one cultivate with their family, society, and environment? Are individuals themselves constituted by such relationships, or conceivable independently of them? Should political ideology and moral character be cultivated, or should we instead abandon the artificiality of human convention in favour of a return to nature? What is nature, and what is its relationship to human nature and human beings? Do human and other beings have real essences and/or autonomy? Or are essence and autonomy merely intellectual fabrications which ultimately only obscure reality and produce suffering? Can enlightenment mitigate such suffering, and if so, how can we attain it?
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 01:31:09 +0000
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