Against a Hindu God: Buddhist Philosophy of Religion in India

Parimal Patil

Published by Columbia University Press 2009

Against a Hindu God

Buddhist Philosophy of Religion in India

Parimal Patil

https://doi.org/10.7312/pati14222

Overview
Contents

About this book

Philosophical arguments for and against the existence of God have been crucial to Euro-American and South Asian philosophers for over a millennium. Critical to the history of philosophy in India, were the centuries-long arguments between Buddhist and Hindu philosophers about the existence of a God-like being called Isvara and the religious epistemology used to support them. By focusing on the work of Ratnakirti, one of the last great Buddhist philosophers of India, and his arguments against his Hindu opponents, Parimal G. Patil illuminates South Asian intellectual practices and the nature of philosophy during the final phase of Buddhism in India.

Based at the famous university of Vikramasila, Ratnakirti brought the full range of Buddhist philosophical resources to bear on his critique of his Hindu opponents' cosmological/design argument. At stake in his critique was nothing less than the nature of inferential reasoning, the metaphysics of epistemology, and the relevance of philosophy to the practice of religion. In developing a proper comparative approach to the philosophy of religion, Patil transcends the disciplinary boundaries of religious studies, philosophy, and South Asian studies and applies the remarkable work of philosophers like Ratnakirti to contemporary issues in philosophy and religion.

Author / Editor information

Parimal G. Patil is John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University.

Reviews

Jonathan C. Gold:
Patil sets a high standard for comparative philosophy. In addition, the work provides a compelling, new interpretation of the place of philosophy on the Buddhist path to liberation.

Michael D. Nichols:
...a fascinating and important book...

Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad:
This is a brilliant, erudite, formidable, and intricately argued first book, which shows the arrival of an outstanding Indologist and philosopher. The book calls for concentration and an eye for detail, but it amply rewards the reader.

Patrick McAllister:
...an inviting introduction to the central concerns of Indian forms of logic and to some of its most excellent epistemology,

Stephen Phillips:
A penetrating study.

Jose Ignacio Cabezon, University of California at Santa Barbara:
" Against a Hindu God is a book about the late Indian critiques of Brahmanical conceptions of God. But more than just a study of Buddhist philosophers like Ratnakirti, Parimal G. Patil is interested in what late medieval Indian philosophers have to say to the disciplines of philosophy, theology, religious studies, and South Asian studies. Utilizing the concepts and vocabulary of Sanskrit grammatical theory, Patil constructs a trans-disciplinary space for the comparative philosophy of religion, a vision of the discipline that is both creative and compelling. Scholars routinely note that Buddhist logical and epistemological theories exist in the service of a religious agenda, but few have explained the soteriological dimensions of Buddhist philosophy as clearly as Patil does in this work. A major contribution to the fields of Buddhist and comparative philosophy." --

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Abbreviations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. Comparative Philosophy of Religions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
Part 1. Epistemology
2. Religious Epistemology in Classical India: In Defense of a Hindu God Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	31
3. Against Irvara: Ratnakirti’s Buddhist Critique Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	100
Part 2. Language, Mind, and Ontology
4. The Theory of Exclusion, Conceptual Content, and Buddhist Epistemology Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
5. Ratnakirti’s World: Toward a Buddhist Philosophy of Everything Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	248
Conclusion
6. The Values of Buddhist Epistemology Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	313
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	365
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	391

Language: English
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 400

eBook

Published: June 26, 2009
ISBN: 9780231513074