Izutsu’S Zen Metaphysics Of I-Consciousness Vis-À-Vis Cartesian Cogito,
2020
San Jose State University
Izutsu’S Zen Metaphysics Of I-Consciousness Vis-À-Vis Cartesian Cogito, Takaharu Oda, Alessio Bucci
Comparative Philosophy
Chief amongst the issues Toshihiko Izutsu broached is the philosophisation of Zen Buddhism in his book Toward a Philosophy of Zen Buddhism. This article aims to critically compare Izutsu’s reconstruction of Zen metaphysics with another metaphysical tradition rooted in Descartes’ cogito ergo sum. Putting Izutsu’s terminological choices into the context of Zen Buddhism, we review his argument based on the subject-object distinction and establish a comparison with the Cartesian cogito. A critical analysis is conducted on the functional relationship between subject and object in Izutsu’s metaphysics of Zen (meditation). This is examined step by step from the perspective of …
A Russellian Analysis Of Buddhist Catuskoti,
2020
San Jose State University
A Russellian Analysis Of Buddhist Catuskoti, Nicholaos Jones
Comparative Philosophy
Names name, but there are no individuals who are named by names. This is the key to an elegant and ideologically parsimonious strategy for analyzing the Buddhist catuṣkoṭi. The strategy is ideologically parsimonious, because it appeals to no analytic resources beyond those of standard predicate logic. The strategy is elegant, because it is, in effect, an application of Bertrand Russell's theory of definite descriptions to Buddhist contexts. The strategy imposes some minor adjustments upon Russell's theory. Attention to familiar catuṣkoṭi from Vacchagotta and Nagarjuna as well as more obscure catuṣkoṭi from Khema, Zhi Yi, and Fa Zang motivates the …
‘I Have Regained Memory’ (Smṛtir Labdhā): The Bhagavad Gītā As A Parrhesiastic Journey Against Forgetfulness,
2020
San Jose State University
‘I Have Regained Memory’ (Smṛtir Labdhā): The Bhagavad Gītā As A Parrhesiastic Journey Against Forgetfulness, Raquel Ferrández-Formoso
Comparative Philosophy
This paper proposes an interdisciplinary reading of the Bhagavad Gītā, presenting it as a parrhesiastic dialogue between Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna, and focusing on the importance attached to memory. Foucault’s studies on the exercise of parrhesia (“true speech”) in the Greco-Roman context, but also Heidegger's views on the original memory, and Abhinavagupta’s commentary to the Bhagavad Gītā have been used as important tools of interpretation. Devotion is described as the constant memory of Kṛṣṇa, through which the practitioner succeeds in substituting some subconscious dispositions (saṃskāras) for others, building a psychic memory that allows for liberation at the time of …
The Yi-Jing Cosmic Model: With An Application Of An Alternative To Neoliberalism,
2020
San Jose State University
The Yi-Jing Cosmic Model: With An Application Of An Alternative To Neoliberalism, Harry Donkers
Comparative Philosophy
Based on Yi-Jing we present an elaborated version of the Diagram of the Supreme Polarity that consists of immanent and transcendent processes via the void (Wu-ji), the oneness (Tai-ji), the twofold (Yin and Yang), the fourfold (duograms) and the Five Phases in combination with the eight trigrams (Ba-Gua) to reproduction and the innumerable beings. The duograms are further discussed in a quadrant system with axes derived from pattern li and vital energy qi. The model has similarities with Libbrecht’s model of comparative philosophy, but also differences. It is further consistent with the quadrant system …
De Libero Conscientia: Martin Luther’S Rediscovery Of Liberty Of Conscience And Its Synthesis Of The Ancients And The Influence Of The Moderns,
2020
Liberty University
De Libero Conscientia: Martin Luther’S Rediscovery Of Liberty Of Conscience And Its Synthesis Of The Ancients And The Influence Of The Moderns, Bessie S. Blackburn
Liberty University Journal of Statesmanship & Public Policy
One fateful day on March 26, 1521, a lowly Augustinian monk was cited to appear before the Diet of Worms.[1] His habit trailed behind him as he braced for the questioning. He was firm, yet troubled. He boldly proclaimed: “If I am not convinced by proofs from Scripture, or clear theological reasons, I remain convinced by the passages which I have quoted from Scripture, and my conscience is held captive by the Word of God. I cannot and will not retract, for it is neither prudent nor right to go against one’s conscience. So help me God, …
Humanism In The Americas,
2020
Bucknell University
Humanism In The Americas, Carol W. White
Faculty Contributions to Books
This chapter provides an overview of select trends, ideas, themes, and figures associated with humanism in the Americas, which comprises a diversified set of peoples, cultural traditions, religious orientations, and socio-economic groups. In acknowledging this rich tapestry of human life, the chapter emphasizes the impressive variety of developments in philosophy, the natural sciences, literature, religion, art, social science, and political thought that have contributed to the development of humanism in the Americas. The chapter also features modern usages of humanism that originated in the English-speaking world in the nineteenth century. In this context, humanism is best viewed as a contested …
Berkeley On Infinite Divisibility,
2020
University of California, Irvine
Berkeley On Infinite Divisibility, David Mwakima
Western Ontario Early Modern Philosophy (WOEMP) Online Events
Berkeley, arguing against Barrow, claims that the infinite divisibility of finite lines is neither an axiom nor a theorem in Euclid The Thirteen Books of The Elements. Instead, he suggests that it is rooted in ancient prejudice. In this paper, I attempt to substantiate Berkeley’s claims by looking carefully at the history and practice of ancient geometry as a first step towards understanding Berkeley’s mathematical atomism.
Berkeley On Perceptual Discrimination Of Physical Objects,
2020
Western University
Berkeley On Perceptual Discrimination Of Physical Objects, Keota Fields
Western Ontario Early Modern Philosophy (WOEMP) Online Events
Commentators are divided over whether Berkeley holds that physical objects are immediately perceived by sense. As I read Berkeley, discrimination is necessary for perceiving physical objects by sense. Berkeley says that discrimination requires perceiving motion. Since motions can only be mediately perceived according to Berkeley, physical objects can only be mediately perceived by sense. I defend this reading against the following objections. First, that perception of physical objects is non-conceptual. Second, that physical objects are divinely instituted collections of ideas rather than psychologically associated collections of ideas. Third, that some physical objects are small enough to be immediately perceptually discriminated …
Browne’S Critique Of Religious Propositions In Berkeley: A Reply To Pearce,
2020
Western University
Browne’S Critique Of Religious Propositions In Berkeley: A Reply To Pearce, Benjamin Formanek
Western Ontario Early Modern Philosophy (WOEMP) Online Events
No abstract provided.
Does Berkeley Anthropomorphize God,
2020
Western University
Does Berkeley Anthropomorphize God, Kenneth Pearce
Western Ontario Early Modern Philosophy (WOEMP) Online Events
Berkeley occasionally says that we use analogy in thinking and speaking of God (Alc, §4.21). However, the scholarly consensus is that Berkeley rejects the traditional doctrine of divine analogy and holds instead that words like ‘wise’ apply to God in precisely the same way as they apply to Socrates. The difference is only a matter of degree (Daniel 2011; Curtin 2014; Pearce 2018; Fasko 2018). Univocal theories of the divine attributes have historically been charged with anthropomorphism—that is, with imagining God to be too similar to human beings (see Maimonides, Guide, ch. 1.1). Can Berkeley fairly be charged with anthropomorphizing …
Day 3 Schedule,
2020
Western
Day 3 Schedule, Benjamin Hill
Western Ontario Early Modern Philosophy (WOEMP) Online Events
No abstract provided.
Thomas Reid And The Priority Thesis: A Defence Against Turri,
2020
Western
Thomas Reid And The Priority Thesis: A Defence Against Turri, Benjamin Formanek, Lewis Powell
Western Ontario Early Modern Philosophy (WOEMP) Online Events
No abstract provided.
What Makes Hume An External World Skeptic?,
2020
Notre Dame
What Makes Hume An External World Skeptic?, Graham Clay, David Landy, Nathan Rockwood
Western Ontario Early Modern Philosophy (WOEMP) Online Events
What would it take for Hume to be an external world skeptic? Is Hume's position on knowledge sufficient to force him to deny that we can acquire knowledge of (non-logical) propositions about the external world? After all, Hume is extremely restrictive about what can be known because he requires knowledge to be immune to error. In this paper, I will argue that if Hume were a skeptic, then he must also deny a particular kind of view about what is immediately present to the mind. I will argue that direct realisms—views that maintain that mind-independent (i.e. ontologically distinct) things are …
Cancelled - Berkeley's A Priori Argument For God's Exstence,
2020
Texas A&M University, Collage Station
Cancelled - Berkeley's A Priori Argument For God's Exstence, Stephen H. Daniel, Alberto Luis Lopez
Western Ontario Early Modern Philosophy (WOEMP) Online Events
Berkeley’s appeal to a posteriori arguments for God’s existence supports belief only in a God who is finite. But by appealing to an a priori argument for God’s existence, Berkeley emphasizes God’s infinity. In this latter argument, God is not the efficient cause of particular finite things in the world, for such an explanation does not provide a justification or rationale for why the totality of finite things would exist in the first place. Instead, God is understood as the creator of the total unity of all there is, the whole of creation. In this a priori argument, we should …
Kant’S Long Shadow On The Interpretation Of Swedenborg,
2020
Jagiellonian University in Kraków
Kant’S Long Shadow On The Interpretation Of Swedenborg, Hasse Hämäläinen, Alin Varciu
Western Ontario Early Modern Philosophy (WOEMP) Online Events
Among the readers of Swedenborg, the Swedish thinker’s ‘theory of correspondences’ is often interpreted as treating empirical realities as only imperfect manifestations of spiritual realities (e.g. Lamm 1915, Benz 1948, Beiser 2002). This interpretation that ascribes (Platonic) idealism to Swedenborg was originally proposed by Kant in the Dreams of a Spirit-Seer (1766). Although Kant criticizes Swedenborg’s theory, he considers it no inferior to the theories of Leibniz and Wolf, which can entice a reader of Swedenborg to take Kant’s interpretation at face value: even if Kant did not agree with Swedenborg, at least he took him to be on par …
Cavendish And Berkeley On Inconceivability And Impossibility,
2020
Trinity College Dublin
Cavendish And Berkeley On Inconceivability And Impossibility, Peter West, Colin Chamberlain
Western Ontario Early Modern Philosophy (WOEMP) Online Events
In this paper, I compare Margaret Cavendish’s argument for the view that colours of objects are inseparable from their ‘physical’ qualities (such as size and shape) with George Berkeley’s argument for the view that secondary qualities of objects (such as colours, tastes, and sounds) are inseparable from their primary qualities (such as size and shape). By reconstructing their respective arguments, I show that both thinkers rely on the ‘inconceivability principle’: the claim that inconceivability entails impossibility. That is, both premise their arguments on the claim that it is impossible to conceive of an object that has size and shape but …
Day 2 Schedule,
2020
Western
Day 2 Schedule, Benjamin Hill
Western Ontario Early Modern Philosophy (WOEMP) Online Events
No abstract provided.
The Middle Standpoint In Spinoza’S Ethics,
2020
University of Pennsylvania
The Middle Standpoint In Spinoza’S Ethics, Raphael Krut-Landau, Kristin Primus
Western Ontario Early Modern Philosophy (WOEMP) Online Events
No abstract provided.
Spinoza’S Formal Essence,
2020
University of Toledo
Spinoza’S Formal Essence, Christopher Martin
Western Ontario Early Modern Philosophy (WOEMP) Online Events
Spinoza stipulates in E2def2, his definition of the essence of a thing, that the essence of each particular can neither exist nor, even, be conceived, except alongside its particular. Yet a mere eight propositions later states that God maintains an idea of the essence of nonactual particulars “in the same way as the formal essences of the singular things are contained in God’s attributes” (E2p8). While there are known interpretive controversies with each of these claims, I argue that according to E2def2, essences of particulars can only be and can only be conceived alongside the actual existence of their particular, …
Informal Discussion,
2020
Western
Informal Discussion, Benjamin Hill
Western Ontario Early Modern Philosophy (WOEMP) Online Events
“Do your students struggle with Spinoza’s geometric exposition, and if so, how do you get them past it?”
