Free Will, Agency, and Selfhood in Indian PhilosophyMatthew R. Dasti, Edwin F. Bryant Led by Buddhists and the yoga traditions of Hinduism and Jainism, Indian thinkers have long engaged in a rigorous analysis and reconceptualization of our common notion of self. Less understood is the way in which such theories of self intersect with issues involving agency and free will; yet such intersections are profoundly important, as all major schools of Indian thought recognize that moral goodness and religious fulfillment depend on the proper understanding of personal agency. Moreover, their individual conceptions of agency and freedom are typically nodes by which an entire school's epistemological, ethical, and metaphysical perspectives come together as a systematic whole. Free Will, Agency, and Selfhood in Indian Philosophy explores the contours of this issue, from the perspectives of the major schools of Indian thought. With new essays by leading specialists in each field, this volume provides rigorous analysis of the network of issues surrounding agency and freedom as developed within Indian thought. |
Contents
1 | |
The Unchangeability of the Eternal | 16 |
Freedom and Agency in Light of the Two Truths | 41 |
3 Free Will and Voluntarism in Jainism | 68 |
4 Paninian Grammarians on Agency and Independence | 85 |
5 Nyayas Self as Agent and Knower | 112 |
The Problem of Agency in Mimamsa | 137 |
Freedom Agency and Ethics for Madhyamikas | 164 |
8 Self Causation and Agency in the Advaita of Sankara | 186 |
9 The Linguistics and Cosmology of Agency in Nondual Kashmiri Saiva Thought | 210 |
11 Dependent Agency and Hierarchical Determinism in the Theology of Madhva | 255 |
12 Agency in the Gaudiya Vaisnava Tradition | 279 |
309 | |
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Free Will, Agency, and Selfhood in Indian Philosophy Matthew R. Dasti,Edwin F. Bryant Limited preview - 2014 |
Free Will, Agency, and Selfhood in Indian Philosophy Matthew R. Dasti,Edwin F. Bryant Limited preview - 2014 |
Common terms and phrases
Abhinavagupta action Advaita Vedānta Advaitins agent ahaṃkāra argues argument ātman avidyā Baladeva Bhagavad Gītā Bhāgavata Bhartrhari Bhāṣya body Brahman buddhi Buddhist causal determinism cause cetanā chapter cognition commentary consciousness Delhi desire dharmas discussion distinction entity eternal experience finite freedom Gauḍīya Govindacharya guṇas Hindu human independent Indian philosophy individual inherent interpretation Jaina Jīva Jīva Gosvāmin jñāna kāraka Kārikā karma karmic merit kartṛ knowledge Kumārila liberation Lord Lord’s Madhva Madhyamaka means metaphysical Mīmāṃsā Mīmāṃsā authors Mīmāṃsakas mind mind-body complex moral responsibility Motilal Banarsidass Naiyāyikas nature nondual notion Nyāya object one’s Pāli Pāṇini participant Patañjali perform person phenomenal position prakṛti Pratyabhijñā prayatna problem properties puruṣa Rāmānuja reality Ś.Bh Śaiva Śakti Sāṃkhya Śaṅkara Sanskrit schools self’s agency selfhood sense soul Śrī Supreme Sureśvara texts theory tion tradition Translation Udayana Uddyotakara ultimate Upaniṣad Utpaladeva Vācaspati Vaiṣṇava Veda Vedāntins Vedic verse volition Yoga Sūtras