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Articles 1 - 30 of 65
Full-Text Articles in Metaphysics
Why Minds Need Bodies: Organismic Unity And Limits Of Artificial Consciousness, Renée Snow
Why Minds Need Bodies: Organismic Unity And Limits Of Artificial Consciousness, Renée Snow
Comparative Philosophy
This paper argues that functional organization alone is not sufficient for phenomenal consciousness or the existence of a unified subject of experience. While many contemporary accounts of artificial consciousness assume that replicating the causal or computational structure of the brain would be sufficient for subjective experience, this paper identifies a deeper constraint: consciousness depends on organismic unity. The argument proceeds through a triangulation of conceptual, empirical, and metaphysical considerations. First, Zuboff’s thought experiment shows that functional organization can be preserved while the unity of the subject dissolves, suggesting that causal pattern replication alone cannot secure subjectivity. Second, findings from neuroscience …
Fang Zhu’S Shen-Mie-Lun And Contemporary Physicism: A Cross-Cultural Dialogue, Soo Lam Wong
Fang Zhu’S Shen-Mie-Lun And Contemporary Physicism: A Cross-Cultural Dialogue, Soo Lam Wong
Comparative Philosophy
Fan Zhen’s 范缜 “Shen-Mie-Lun 神灭论” can be read as a debate between a physicalist and a dualist in the philosophy of mind. Many of Fan’s arguments found in the “Shen-Mie-Lun” correspond to contemporary physicalism in Western analytic philosophy. My aim in this essay is to bring Fan's “Shen-Mie-Lun” into conversation with contemporary physicalism in the following way: (1) offer an outline of Fan’s physicalism as presented in the “Shen-Mie-Lun” (2) map his view onto the key positions and concepts of contemporary physicalism, (3) show how his view is (a) incompatible with eliminative …
The Coherence Of Navayāna Pragmatism: Ambedkar And The Pragmatist Reconstruction Of Buddhist Philosophy, Danish Hamid
The Coherence Of Navayāna Pragmatism: Ambedkar And The Pragmatist Reconstruction Of Buddhist Philosophy, Danish Hamid
Comparative Philosophy
This paper examines the philosophical coherence of B.R. Ambedkar’s reconstruction of his (Navayāna) Buddhism in relation to John Dewey’s pragmatism. Building on Scott Stroud’s reading of Ambedkar as a Deweyan Pragmatist (2017, 2023), it argues that Dewey’s evolutionary naturalism, his conception of growth, and pragmatic redefinition of concepts provide Ambedkar with the methodological tools for a naturalistic and socially reconstructive reinterpretation of Buddhist doctrines such as anicca (impermanence), dhamma (Buddha’s teaching), nirvāṇa (enlightenment), karuna (compassion), etc. Ambedkar transforms impermanence from a metaphysics of flux into an ethics of progressive growth, and recasts dhamma as a social morality grounded in fraternity …
Walking Through The Aristotelian Lane: Amartya Sen On Rational Choice, Barada Laxmi Panda
Walking Through The Aristotelian Lane: Amartya Sen On Rational Choice, Barada Laxmi Panda
Comparative Philosophy
The term ‘rational choice’ has great impact on the life of a rational agent. Rational choice helps the agent to understand her capability of making choice and the intentional involvement for working on a particular aspect considering certain circumstances. At the same time, this creates a lot of dilemmas in terms of understanding the freewill of the agent while being committed for a work. Following this, Amartya Sen’s discussion on this subject seems relevant where Sen very prominently reflects on the point that rational choice involves freedom, rationality, and normativity. These three features are coherent with each other and with …
Constructive Engagement Between Ecological Thoughts Of Karl Marx And Lao Zi, Hongyin Zhou, Yuqi Chen
Constructive Engagement Between Ecological Thoughts Of Karl Marx And Lao Zi, Hongyin Zhou, Yuqi Chen
Comparative Philosophy
The global ecological crisis has posed unprecedented survival challenges to human being. Consequently, ecological issues have naturally become central concerns in philosophy. From the methodological perspective of constructive engagement in comparative philosophy, we have chosen to compare the ecological thoughts of two thinkers—Karl Marx and Lao Zi (老子)—who are separated by vast spans of time and cultural tradition. We argue that Karl Marx holds a mild anthropocentric ecological view, while Lao Zi holds a transcendental ecological view. In addressing ecological issues, Lao Zi’s transcendental methodological guiding principles can provide negative methodological constraints for Karl …
A Realist Daoism: Reading The Zhuang-Zi With Lao Zi's Daoist Realism, Wai Lok Cheung
A Realist Daoism: Reading The Zhuang-Zi With Lao Zi's Daoist Realism, Wai Lok Cheung
Comparative Philosophy
A realist Daoism is best illustrated through contrasting with something less robust. Chad Hansen’s Daoism may be understood as a linguistic constructivism and is thus a good candidate. I challenge his interpretation of the Zhuang-Zi and respond with a realist understanding of daos. The resultant realist Daoism is to be understood given a Daoist realism from Lao Zi’s Dao-De-Jing, whose realist flavour is constituted by some dao sometimes, if not always, outrunning us. The present paper thus situates Zhuang Zi better as inheriting Daoism from Lao Zi, contributing to classical Daoism with a relativity …
Book Review On Kyoto School Philosophy In Comparative Perspective: Ideology, Ontology, Modernity (By Bernard Stevens), Dennis Stromback
Book Review On Kyoto School Philosophy In Comparative Perspective: Ideology, Ontology, Modernity (By Bernard Stevens), Dennis Stromback
Comparative Philosophy
No abstract provided.
A Madhyamaka Critique Of Jaegwon Kim's Supervenience Argument, Tyler J. Jungbauer
A Madhyamaka Critique Of Jaegwon Kim's Supervenience Argument, Tyler J. Jungbauer
Comparative Philosophy
Jaegwon Kim’s supervenience argument objects to the possibility of emergent causation (both downward and same-level) based on both (1) the causal overdetermination of both (a) higher-level emergent events and (b) lower-level basal events, and (2) the causal closure principle of the physical domain. Kim argues that emergent causation entails epiphenomenalism. Madhyamaka Buddhist philosophy skeptically critiques the primary (ultimate) existence of causal phenomena and instead suggests that all such phenomena may only be secondarily (conventionally) existent. Mādhyamikas acknowledge that, conventionally, emergent phenomena appear to cause both basal phenomena and other emergent phenomena. However, contra Kim, Mādhyamikas doubt that causal relations ultimately …
Causality, Agency, And Moral Responsibility In Nikaya Buddhism, Soo Lam Wong
Causality, Agency, And Moral Responsibility In Nikaya Buddhism, Soo Lam Wong
Comparative Philosophy
In this paper, I aim to examine the relationship between the Buddhist notions of causality and agency, the questions of whether the Buddhist notion of causality affirms causal determinism and whether the Buddhist notion of agency affirms libertarian free will, the implications of the Buddhist notions of causality and agency for moral responsibility, and the implications of the Buddhist rejection of the metaphysical self for agency and moral responsibility. My claim is that although the question of whether the early Buddhist notions of causality and agency affirm causal determinism and libertarian free will respectively remains open, they are compatible with …
Zero, Śūnya And Pūrṇa: A Comparative Analysis, Animisha Tewari
Zero, Śūnya And Pūrṇa: A Comparative Analysis, Animisha Tewari
Comparative Philosophy
Due to apparent duality in this world, one has to face a lot of difficulties while searching for the Truth. Our ego is the root cause for perception of duality and this in turn leads to suffering. This suffering can only be extinguished by attainment of the Truth, i.e, non-duality. However, in order to enable the finite intellect to comprehend the incomprehensible non-duality, this undifferentiated whole is sometimes denoted by nothingness (śūnya) or fullness (pūrṇa). Non-duality is usually understood by the numeral ‘1’ which stands for unity or oneness. The main aim of this paper is …
Ubuntu’S Ontological Account In African Philosophy And Its Cross-Tradition Engagement On The Issue Of Being Versus Becoming, Anthony Chimankpam Ojimba
Ubuntu’S Ontological Account In African Philosophy And Its Cross-Tradition Engagement On The Issue Of Being Versus Becoming, Anthony Chimankpam Ojimba
Comparative Philosophy
This paper x-rays Ramose’s ubuntu ontological account in African philosophy and its cross-tradition engagement on the issue of being versus becoming (such as the Yin-Yang, Heraclitean, Nietzschean, Whiteheadean and the Buddhists’ accounts) with a view to showing how convergence and divergence of thoughts in the African, European, and Asian philosophy contexts can advance cross-cultural philosophizing or cross-tradition approach to doing philosophy. Ramose’s ubuntu ontology designates a reconstruction of reality within the framework of motion, as captured in his concept of be-ing-becoming, while the Heraclitean, Nietzschean, Whiteheadean and the Buddhists’ ontological accounts also conceive reality within the confines of endless …
Caducitas And Śūnyatā: A Neoplatonist Reading Of Nāgārjuna, Fabien Muller
Caducitas And Śūnyatā: A Neoplatonist Reading Of Nāgārjuna, Fabien Muller
Comparative Philosophy
In this paper I am addressing the question whether Nāgārjuna’s doctrine should be understood as a theory that describes reality itself (ontology) or as a theory of our relation to reality (epistemological, logical, psychological, etc.). To answer this question, I propose to compare Nāgārjuna’s concept of emptiness to that of ‘caducity’, a key element in the ontology of Renaissance Neoplatonist philosopher Francisco Patrizi. By showing that these concepts are similar, I argue that Nāgārjuna’s standpoint can be considered as that of ontology.
Ineffability, Emptiness And The Aesthetics Of Logic, Andreas Kapsner
Ineffability, Emptiness And The Aesthetics Of Logic, Andreas Kapsner
Comparative Philosophy
In this essay, I explore the nature of the logical analysis of Buddhist thought that Graham Priest has offered in his book The Fifth Corner of Four (5of4). The paper traces the development of a logical value in- troduced in 5of4, which Priest has called e. The paper points out that certain criticisms I have made earlier still stand, but focuses on a recon- ceptualization of 5of4 in which these arguments carry less weight. This new perspective on the book, inspired by a response to my arguments by Priest himself, sees the logical analysis of Buddhism …
Dreaming Philosophers: The Daoist And The Metaphysician, Kelly S. Inglis
Dreaming Philosophers: The Daoist And The Metaphysician, Kelly S. Inglis
Comparative Philosophy
Is this just a dream? Daoist philosopher Zhuang Zi and metaphysician Descartes both considered this question but came to very different conclusions. In his Dream Hypothesis, Descartes imagined that all of his beliefs about the external world could be mistaken, which led him to the realization that the only thing that he could be certain of was his own existence: “I think therefore I am.” But what am “I”? “I am a thinking thing”, he said and concluded that the existence of one’s mental self is clear, certain and indubitable, while the existence of a physical world was open …
Mexica Monism And Daoist Ethics In The Philosophy Of Gloria Anzaldúa, Saraliza Anzaldúa
Mexica Monism And Daoist Ethics In The Philosophy Of Gloria Anzaldúa, Saraliza Anzaldúa
Comparative Philosophy
Critical scholarship regarding the philosophy of Gloria Anzaldúa has proliferated in recent decades, especially in the fields of feminist theory, phenomenology, and epistemology. However, there is little analysis of the metaphysics which undergird their work and make possible their views on identity, experience, and community politics. First, this article will explore the significance of Anzaldúa’s ‘nos/otras’ and its relation to Mexica (Aztec) monistic metaphysics. Such a concept resists an us/them construction of the world because it situates the other as us: the Spanish word for ‘we’ is ‘nosotros’ and holds the ‘other/otros’ as its …
Sameness, Difference And Environmental Concern In The Metaphysics And Ethics Of Spinoza And Chan Buddhism, Michael Hemmingsen
Sameness, Difference And Environmental Concern In The Metaphysics And Ethics Of Spinoza And Chan Buddhism, Michael Hemmingsen
Comparative Philosophy
In this paper I contrast the metaphysical philosophies of Benedict de Spinoza and the ‘sudden enlightenment’ tradition of Chan Buddhism. Spinoza’s expressivist philosophy, in which everything can be conceived via a lineage of finite causes terminating in substance as a metaphysical ground of all things, emphasises the relative sameness of all entities. By contrast, Chan’s philosophy of emptiness, which rests on the dependent co-origination of all entities, renders such comparison fundamentally meaningless. Having no source beyond dependent co-origination to generate a thing’s distinct nature leads to a metaphysics in which, rather than being relatively similar or different, all things …
The Yi-Jing Cosmic Model As A Framework For Comparative Philosophy, Harry Donkers
The Yi-Jing Cosmic Model As A Framework For Comparative Philosophy, Harry Donkers
Comparative Philosophy
Based on the symbolism of the trigrams, the Yi-Jing cosmic model offers possibilities in a coordinate system with eight octants to discuss different philosophical developments in parallel. It forms a framework for further elaboration of theory and methodology of comparative philosophy. This paper is restricted to extracting, analyzing and comparing common features from the perspectives of the Yi-Jing model. Achieving harmony is the subject of a new paper under construction. The philosophical developments in the quadrants, Naturalism, Moralism, Rationalism and Humanism, are characterized by a fundamental difference between subject and object. This difference remains intact in the octants, but specified …
Appearance And Momentariness: The Nature Of Being Between Nāgārjuna, The Sarvāstivādins And Neo-Parmenidism, Federico Divino
Appearance And Momentariness: The Nature Of Being Between Nāgārjuna, The Sarvāstivādins And Neo-Parmenidism, Federico Divino
Comparative Philosophy
In this article I will try to demonstrate the existence of points in common between the eternalist instances of Parmenidean philosophy and the Buddhist formulations made by some parts of the Abhidhamma, Nāgārjuna, and the Sarvāstivādins. These three philosophies have numerous points in common with Emanuele Severino’s formulations from the point of view of what is defined as neo-Parmenidism. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that the points in common between these systems of thought are due to a basic affinity which, despite having led them to emphasize different themes, present similar reasoning and logical consequences, which allow …
A Unifying Pluralist Account Of Truth And The Case Of Chinese Philosophy Examined From The Cross-Tradition Engaging Vantage Point: Reply To Chenyang Li, Bo Mou
Comparative Philosophy
No abstract provided.
Truth In Chinese Philosophy: A Commentary On Bo Mou’S Semantic-Truth Approaches In Chinese Philosophy, Chenyang Li
Truth In Chinese Philosophy: A Commentary On Bo Mou’S Semantic-Truth Approaches In Chinese Philosophy, Chenyang Li
Comparative Philosophy
No abstract provided.
Social Roles And Psychological Continuity: Developing A Confucian-Psychological Continuity Hybrid Account Of Personal Identity And Ontology, Sammuel Byer
Comparative Philosophy
In this paper, I delineate a variety of questions related to personal identity and ontology. I develop and compare the Confucian conception of the person and the view of the person developed throughout Derek Parfit’s work on personal identity and ontology. I will demonstrate that the Confucian conception of the person has numerous instructive similarities with Parfit’s work on personal identity, despite a number of differences. I argue, briefly, that this project is worthwhile as a piece of comparative philosophy. One of the final two sections of the paper develop a new hybrid account of personal identity and ontology that …
The Concept Of Non-Duality In Śaṅkara And Cusanus, Jerome Klotz
The Concept Of Non-Duality In Śaṅkara And Cusanus, Jerome Klotz
Comparative Philosophy
When comparing diverse philosophical traditions, it becomes necessary to establish a common point of departure. This paper offers a comparative analysis of Advaita Vedānta Hinduism and esoteric Christianity, as represented by the two highly celebrated figures of Śaṅkara and Nicholas Cusanus, respectively. The common point of departure on which I base this comparison is the concept of “non-duality”—a concept that is fitting for at least two reasons. First, it is general enough to encompass both traditions, pervading the work of each figure, and thus allowing for a kind of “shared language.” Second, it is specific enough to identify a set …
Gaps: When Not Even Nothing Is There, Charles Blattberg
Gaps: When Not Even Nothing Is There, Charles Blattberg
Comparative Philosophy
A paradox, it is claimed, is a radical form of contradiction, one that produces gaps in meaning. In order to approach this idea, two senses of “separation” are distinguished: separation by something and separation by nothing. The latter does not refer to nothing in an ordinary sense, however, since in that sense what’s intended is actually less than nothing. Numerous ordinary nothings in philosophy as well as in other fields are surveyed so as to clarify the contrast. Then follows the suggestion that philosophies which one would expect to have room for paradoxes actually tend either to exclude them altogether …
Don’T Be So Fast With The Knife: A Reply To Kapsner, Graham Priest
Don’T Be So Fast With The Knife: A Reply To Kapsner, Graham Priest
Comparative Philosophy
The is a brief reply to the central objection against the construction of my The Fifth Corner of Four by Andi Kapsner in his “Cutting Corners: A Critical Note on Priest’s Five-Valued Catuṣkoṭi. This concerns the desirability of adding a fifth corner (ineffability) to the four of the catuṣkoṭi.
Cutting Corners: A Critical Note On Priest’S Five-Valued Catuṣkoṭi, Andreas Kapsner
Cutting Corners: A Critical Note On Priest’S Five-Valued Catuṣkoṭi, Andreas Kapsner
Comparative Philosophy
Graham Priest has offered a rational reconstruction of Buddhist thought that involves, first, modeling the Catuṣkoṭi by a four valued logic, and then later adding a fifth value, read as “ineffability”. This note examines that fifth value and raises some concerns about it that seem grave enough to reject it. It then sketches an alternative to Priest’s account that has no need for the fifth value.
Izutsu’S Zen Metaphysics Of I-Consciousness Vis-À-Vis Cartesian Cogito, Takaharu Oda, Alessio Bucci
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, Nicholaos Jones
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 …
The Yi-Jing Cosmic Model: With An Application Of An Alternative To Neoliberalism, Harry Donkers
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 …
Plurality Of Traditions And Metatheories In Information Science, Taufik Asmiyanto, Muhamad Prabu Wibowo
Plurality Of Traditions And Metatheories In Information Science, Taufik Asmiyanto, Muhamad Prabu Wibowo
Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)
Information science presupposes multi traditions because of its close relationship to the convergence of several fields of science that saw epistemic and practical needs and demands due to the phenomenon of the information revolution and information and communication technology (ICT). The multi traditions in information science are relevant to explain limitless study objects in information science in understanding reality and ways of gaining knowledge throughout the development of science. A previous study on ontology and epistemology shows that there is a limitation on human reasoning on the understanding reality that affects further development of science. The plurality of traditions enables …
Objectivity, Dagfinn Føllesdal