Ecosystems services are provisions that humans derive from nature. Ecologists trying to value ecosystems have proposed five categories of these services: preserving, supporting, provisioning, regulating and cultural. While this ecosystem services framework attributes 'material' value to nature, sacred natural sites are areas of 'non-material' spiritual significance to people. Can we reconcile the material and non-material values? Ancient classical traditions recognise five elements of nature: earth, water, air, fire and ether. This commentary demonstrates that the perceived properties of these elements correspond (...) with the ecosystem services framework. Whilst the two can be reconciled, the 'elements of nature' framework is argued to be more suitable to make a case for conservation of sacred natural sites because it can be attractive to traditional societies whilst being acceptable to Western science. (shrink)

Abstract:This article is a case study in feminist reclamation in Ruist (Confucian) philosophical traditions. While most feminist reclamation has been concentrated in the history of Western philosophy, this article considers what is involved in feminist reclamation in an East Asian context, taking one of Ruism's greatest critics as its subject. The article argues that the early twentieth-century Chinese anarcho-feminist He Yin Zhen 何殷震 (aka He Ban 何班 and He Zhen 何震) (ca. 1884–1920) should be considered a Ruist (Confucian) philosopher, providing (...) reasons ranging from the historical to the decolonial. Because of her sensitivity to issues of gender, hierarchy, and oppression, and her critical interventions in Ruist philosophy, it argues that He Yin Zhen's work enriches the Ruist canon and could transform Ruist philosophizing for the future. (shrink)

Contributions of Vaiśeṣika philosophy to Ayurvedic medicine; a study.

In this book an attempt is made to represent the Theravada in its faithful form. This work is purely altruistic. It is for the reader and for the scholar to justify how far this position is desensible in the course of the lecturer in this book. In India, Pali Abhidhamma is as yet a scaled book and hence we have done a splendid work in the cause of knowledge and philosophy.

Prominent figures in the philosophical literature on attention hold that the connection between attention and selection is essential (Mole, 2011), necessary (Wu, 2011; 2014), or conceptual (Smithies, 2011). I argue that selection is neither essentially, necessarily, nor conceptually tied to attention. I first isolate the target conception of selection that I deny is so tightly coupled with attention: graded intramodal selection within consciousness. I analyse two visual cases: analysis of the first case shows that there can be attention without a (...) connection to tasks or action; analysis of the second case shows that there can be attention without a phenomenal foreground/background structure. Finally, I extend the argument into the domain of the body by considering a form of meditative absorption in body sensations to recapitulate the conclusions drawn from the two visual cases. (shrink)

Is attention a cognitive process? I reconstruct and critically assess an argument first proposed by Christopher Mole that it cannot be so. Mole’s argument is influential because it creates theoretical space for a unifying analysis of attention at the subject level (though it does not entail it). Prominent philosophers working on attention such as Wayne Wu and Philipp Koralus explicitly endorse it, while Sebastian Watzl endorses a related version, this despite their differing theoretical commitments. I show that Mole’s argument is (...) invalid, amend it to secure its validity, but argue that it still fails. I consider the extent to which the failure of Mole’s argument spreads to the versions offered by Wu, Koralus and Watlz. Mole’s argument fails because it equivocates between the set of conditions that suffice for constituting attention and the subset of those conditions which are salient, but insufficient, for constituting it. Reflection on this distinction has consequences for the individuation not just of attentional processes but all cognitive processes. (shrink)

Classical treatises, with six commentaries, of the Dvaita and Advaita school in Hindu philosophy.

Faith, broadly construed, is central to the political, social and personal life of any rational agent. I argue for two main claims: first, that a typology of faith based on the fine-grained Indic categories of bhakti, śraddhā, prasāda, abhisaṃpratyaya and abhilāṣa dissolves many of the philosophical problems associated with the nature of faith; second, that this typology of faith has elements that cannot be encompassed in a belief-desire psychology. The upshot is that the structure of the mind is more complicated (...) than belief-desire psychology admits and that understanding the nature of faith has a role to play in charting the structure of the mind. (shrink)

O objetivo deste trabalho consistirá em, sob um determinado recorte, expor e comparar os pensamentos de Charles Sanders Peirce e Bertrand Russell. Far-se-á uma comparação entre as concepções de Peirce e Russell sobre filosofia, matemática e lógica. Essa exposição comparativa terá o objetivo de mostrar e ressaltar as diferenças dos dois autores estudados. Tendo-se em vista esse objetivo, o presente trabalho será dividido em duas seções: na primeira seção, tratar-se-á exclusivamente de Peirce, e será feita uma breve exposição de suas (...) concepções de filosofia, matemática e alguns elementos de lógica; na segunda seção, tratar-se-á de Russell nos temas de filosofia, matemática e lógica, notando-se que, ainda nesta segunda seção, será efetuada, para cada um dos temas tratados, uma comparação entre as ideias de Peirce e de Russell. (shrink)

Given a compact Polish space E and the hyperspace of its compact subsets , we consider Gδσ-ideals of compact subsets of E. Solecki has shown that any σ-ideal in a broad natural class of Gδ ideals can be represented via a compact subset of ; in this article we examine the behaviour of Gδ subsets of E with respect to the representing set. Given an ideal I in this class, we construct a representing set that recognises a compact subset of (...) E as being “small” precisely when it is in I, and recognises a Gδ subset of E as being “small” precisely when it is covered by countably many compact sets from I. (shrink)

This essay is a logico?philosophical critique of the Marxian system of sociology with special reference to the theory of social change. To every change in the natural order (taken in conjunction with the technological order) corresponds an appropriate change in the human order, that is, in the system of social relations. This, it is shown, is the fundamental Marxian thesis regarding social equilibrium. And accordingly the key idea regarding social change is that a gradually maturing inherent disproportion between the two (...) orders is the basic condition of social change, eventually leading to the establishment of a new social equilibrium at a higher level. A close examination of the concept of mode of production and changes therein is attempted in the course of elucidating the above thesis. It is argued that the technological interpretation of the concept of mode of production conflicts with the Marxian anthropology and that we should have a structural interpretation according to which it will refer to the economy as a whole and will include among other elements production relations. This interpretation leads the discussion into one of the central problems of Marxism, namely, the relation between the mode of production and the social system. It is argued that the social system is basic to Marx and after a close analysis of the concept of system it is shown that the Marxian theory of base and superstructure rests mainly on confusion of conceptual orientations. This, it is shown, is connected with a fundamental idea of Marxism, viz., that of a system without a transcendent centre. This essay endeavours to prove that such an idea is logically untenable. Hence the Marxian Laws of Transformation of Quantity into Quality and Negation of Negation are examined and shown logically untenable. The last section discusses the question about the determinant of technological change and eventually of social change. Three possible Marxian solutions are examined: (a) in terms of needs ? it is argued that this is inconsistent with Marx's theory of man and labour; (b) in terms of science and new ideas ? it is shown that this ultimately goes contrary to Marxian materialism and positivism; and finally, (c) the systemic solution in terms of the dialectic of nature and man is subjected to logical scrutiny and it is shown that this cannot be consistent and valid without involving a trans?historical standpoint; for, it is argued, the idea of the self?directing Humanity on which it rests is a self?contradictory notion. (shrink)

The paper discusses the attitude of the bhagavadgita in relation to war and peace and justifies its views on independent grounds. The views that the gita is primarily interested in teaching either war or peace, And that the teachings of war and peace are necessarily incompatible are repudiated. The paper shows that the central message of the gita is something more basic and comprehensive, And that the war, As envisaged by the gita, Is not incompatible with a life of peace (...) and righteousness. In this context the concept of 'righteous war' is explained and its scrupulous and exceptional use vindicated. (shrink)

Provided we blame others accurately, is blaming them morally right even if we are guilty of similar wrongdoing ourselves? On the one hand, hypocrisy seems to render blame morally wrong, and unjustified; but on the other, even hypocritical blaming seems better than silence. I develop an account of the wrongness of hypocritical blaming which resolves this apparent dilemma. When holding others accountable for their moral failings, we ought to be willing to reason, together with them, about our own, similar failings. (...) Hypocrisy undermines this process of mutual deliberation. Thus, even if better than silence, hypocritical blaming is second-best, and that is why it is wrong. (shrink)

Priyanshu Prabal Upadhyaya, b. 1919, Sanskrit scholar; contributed articles on various aspects of Indic philosophy, Vedic and Sanskrit literature.

Humanism in Indian context; collection of lectures.

Anonymous commentary on Brahmasūtra of Bādarāyaṇa, aphoristic work on Vedanta philosophy.