This thought-provoking study is a welcome addition to the discipline of comparative philosophy. In a unique scholarly under-taking, Classical as well as contemporary Indian Philosophies and their authors engage in a hermeneutical dialogue with western postmodernism.
The book takes as its central theme the cornerstone of postmodern thought: its attack on rationalist and representation. I modes of thinking, and its radical questioning of the place of reason in philosophy. The theme is informed and developed through a cross-cultural exchange on a number of subjects. These range from desire, suffering, abjection, and death to the nature of being and the self, and the nature of language and writing. Thus, on the subject of desire for example, the Upanisads and Nikaya Buddhism come into contact with Deleuze and Guattari, while the discussion of language and writing sets Derrida against early Buddhism and Abhinavagupta.
Carl Olson brings a variety of thinkers and divergent traditions of thought into a lucid, penetrating debate, which serves to remind us that classical Indian philosophy is not a dead cultural artifact, but has enduring intellectual value. A significant contribution to the field of comparative philosophy in India and abroad, this book will be read with great interest by students and scholars of philosophy, as well as the general reader interested in Indian and Western thought.
About the Author:
Carl Olson is Professor of Religious Studies at Allegheny College, Philadelphia, USA. He is the author of numerous books including The Mysterious Play of Kali: An Interpretive Study of Ramakrishna (1990) and The Indian Renouncer and Postmodern Poison: A Cross Cultural Encounter (1997).
| Preface | ||
| List of Abbreviations | ||
| 1. | BEGINNINGS AND MARGINS Comparative Philosophy, Dialogue, and Margins 2 Recent Approaches to Comparative Philosophy 11 The Challenge of Orientalism 15 Indian Philosophers and Postmodern Thinkers 24 | 2 |
| 2. | LANGUAGE AND WRITING Nikaya Buddhism and Derrida 35 Sankara and Advaita Vedanta 39 Ramanuja and Visistadvaita 46 Abhinavagupta and Kashmir Saivism 51 The Liberating Power of the Mantra 56 Writing 59 Concluding Remarks 64 | 32 |
| 3. | DESIRE Desire, the Upanisads, and Anti-Oedipus 78 Nikaya Buddhism and Schizoanalysis 83 Sankara and Lacan 89 Abhinavagupta and Desire Transformed 93 Levinas, Aurobindo, and Radhakrishnan 97 Concluding Remarks 100 | 75 |
| 4. | SUFFERING, ABJECTION AND DEATH Suffering and Nikaya Buddhism 112 Abjection 117 Suffering and Abjection 121 The Abyss of Death 125 Suffering and Eroticism 130 Concluding Remarks 135 | 110 |
| 5. | THE DISAPPEARING SELF Whatever Happened to the Self? 143 Self and Body 149 Otherwise Than Non-Self 154 Difference and Presence 160 Identity and Self-Recognition 165 Concluding Remarks 168 | 142 |
| 6. | DIFFERENCE AND IDENTITY Differance and Difference 182 Brahman and Identity 190 The Living God and the Death of God 192 Pure Consciousness and Infinity 197 Traces of God 200 Difference and Identity 206 | 180 |
| 7. | ONTOLOGY AND ALTERITY Existence and Existent 220 Presence and Trace 224 The Face of Alterity 227 Being and Alterity 231 Concluding Remarks 234 | 215 |
| 8. | RATIONALITY AND MADNESS The Principle of Reason 248 Reason and Scepticism 253 The Embrace of Dionysus 259 Concluding Remarks 265 | 243 |
| 9. | ENDINGS A Dialogical Retrospective 273 Truth, Meaning, and the Real 282 Postmodernism and Nihilism 287 When the End Is Not an Ending 291 | 272 |
| Bibliography | 297 | |
| Index | 321 |
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This thought-provoking study is a welcome addition to the discipline of comparative philosophy. In a unique scholarly under-taking, Classical as well as contemporary Indian Philosophies and their authors engage in a hermeneutical dialogue with western postmodernism.
The book takes as its central theme the cornerstone of postmodern thought: its attack on rationalist and representation. I modes of thinking, and its radical questioning of the place of reason in philosophy. The theme is informed and developed through a cross-cultural exchange on a number of subjects. These range from desire, suffering, abjection, and death to the nature of being and the self, and the nature of language and writing. Thus, on the subject of desire for example, the Upanisads and Nikaya Buddhism come into contact with Deleuze and Guattari, while the discussion of language and writing sets Derrida against early Buddhism and Abhinavagupta.
Carl Olson brings a variety of thinkers and divergent traditions of thought into a lucid, penetrating debate, which serves to remind us that classical Indian philosophy is not a dead cultural artifact, but has enduring intellectual value. A significant contribution to the field of comparative philosophy in India and abroad, this book will be read with great interest by students and scholars of philosophy, as well as the general reader interested in Indian and Western thought.
About the Author:
Carl Olson is Professor of Religious Studies at Allegheny College, Philadelphia, USA. He is the author of numerous books including The Mysterious Play of Kali: An Interpretive Study of Ramakrishna (1990) and The Indian Renouncer and Postmodern Poison: A Cross Cultural Encounter (1997).
| Preface | ||
| List of Abbreviations | ||
| 1. | BEGINNINGS AND MARGINS Comparative Philosophy, Dialogue, and Margins 2 Recent Approaches to Comparative Philosophy 11 The Challenge of Orientalism 15 Indian Philosophers and Postmodern Thinkers 24 | 2 |
| 2. | LANGUAGE AND WRITING Nikaya Buddhism and Derrida 35 Sankara and Advaita Vedanta 39 Ramanuja and Visistadvaita 46 Abhinavagupta and Kashmir Saivism 51 The Liberating Power of the Mantra 56 Writing 59 Concluding Remarks 64 | 32 |
| 3. | DESIRE Desire, the Upanisads, and Anti-Oedipus 78 Nikaya Buddhism and Schizoanalysis 83 Sankara and Lacan 89 Abhinavagupta and Desire Transformed 93 Levinas, Aurobindo, and Radhakrishnan 97 Concluding Remarks 100 | 75 |
| 4. | SUFFERING, ABJECTION AND DEATH Suffering and Nikaya Buddhism 112 Abjection 117 Suffering and Abjection 121 The Abyss of Death 125 Suffering and Eroticism 130 Concluding Remarks 135 | 110 |
| 5. | THE DISAPPEARING SELF Whatever Happened to the Self? 143 Self and Body 149 Otherwise Than Non-Self 154 Difference and Presence 160 Identity and Self-Recognition 165 Concluding Remarks 168 | 142 |
| 6. | DIFFERENCE AND IDENTITY Differance and Difference 182 Brahman and Identity 190 The Living God and the Death of God 192 Pure Consciousness and Infinity 197 Traces of God 200 Difference and Identity 206 | 180 |
| 7. | ONTOLOGY AND ALTERITY Existence and Existent 220 Presence and Trace 224 The Face of Alterity 227 Being and Alterity 231 Concluding Remarks 234 | 215 |
| 8. | RATIONALITY AND MADNESS The Principle of Reason 248 Reason and Scepticism 253 The Embrace of Dionysus 259 Concluding Remarks 265 | 243 |
| 9. | ENDINGS A Dialogical Retrospective 273 Truth, Meaning, and the Real 282 Postmodernism and Nihilism 287 When the End Is Not an Ending 291 | 272 |
| Bibliography | 297 | |
| Index | 321 |
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