Śrīvaiṣṇavism, Indian and Comparative Philosophy at my new blog

Śrīvaiṣṇavism and Viśiṣṭādvaita VedāntaThis post discusses the differences between Bhedābheda and Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta.
This post discusses the position of Yāmuna within Vedānta.
You can read a short summary of the panel on Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta at the last WSC here.
What happened at the beginnings of Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta? You can read some answers here and here.
The manuscript basis of Vedānta Deśika's Seśvaramīmāṃsā are discussed here.
A summary on the debate about phonemes in Mīmāṃsā and Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta can be read here.

Further Indian Philosophy
A basic bibliography on Jayanta can be read here.
This post offers an overview of Indian linguistics.
Again on Indian linguistics, this post discusses the Mahābhāṣya antecedents of Kumārila's discussion on the sentence.
Cogent evidence (arthāpatti) is discussed here.
Slightly away from my usual concerns, this post discusses substances for the Vātsīputrīyas.

Comparative Philosophy
Deontic logic is discussed here.
This post discusses the category of "West".
Should one study Indian, Chinese, etc. philosophy within the regular curriculum? Read some thoughts here.
Can a debate about ethics be universal if it focuses only on Western ethics? Discuss here. Accordingly, this post discusses the universality of ethics in connection with Hindu bioethics.

Methodology
This post discusses the role of imagination in our reconstructions.
Do you plan to work together? Read this post (and let me know what you think).
Do you also dislike TOC in alphabetic order? Read and comment on this post.

Long sellers: Quotations and Daya Krishna
This post is dedicated to Daya Krishna.
What to read on reuse? You can find some resources here.

Book reviews
This post introduces a series of posts discussing reviews of my book.
Andrew Ollett's review is discussed here.
Taisei Shida's one is discussed here.
For my comments on Hugo David's review, read here.

Interview
You can read here an interview with Shilpa Sumant.

You can find further short posts, Call for papers, quotes, etc., at my new blog.

Epistemology, Śrīvaiṣṇavism and Comparative Philosophy at my new blog

Epistemology
This post deals with the epistemology of public shaming.
This post deals with arthāpatti and inference.
These two posts discuss expert knowledge (as in the case of gemmologists who recognise gems perceptually) in Sanskrit sources (especially Vedānta Deśika and Kumārila and Dharmakīrti).

This post discusses whether one can understand a sentence without believing its content to be the case.
This post discusses language as an instrument of knowledge.
This post discusses sentences and sentence-meaning according to Śabara.
This post discusses words as instruments of knowledge according to Śabara.


Śrīvaiṣṇavism and Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta
A tentative hypothesis about its reconstruction is discussed here.
This post focuses on the three different narratives about the reconstruction of the history of Śrīvaiṣṇavism.
This post discusses the Teṅkalai position about one's absolute love for God.
This post discusses Vedānta Deśika's relation to Nyāya.
This post is dedicated to the ways to know about God.


Comparative Philosophy
Graham Priest explains here why one should study Asian philosophy.
This post discusses whether there are infinite philosophies (African, Australian…) or whether there are just a few philosophical traditions (Greek, German, Indian…).
This post focuses on the issue of narrative as a way to overcome the crudity of pure philosophy (with references to the Islamic world).
This post discusses humans (as) animal beings.

Methodology of translations from Sanskrit
This post focuses on the translation from Sanskrit.
This post discusses the differences between jñā- and vid-.
This post discusses the history of the expression padavākyapramāṇa-.


Long sellers: Quotations and Daya Krishna
This post is dedicated to reuse in the history of art.
This post discusses my reasons for engaging with Daya Krishna's thought.

You can find further short posts, Call for papers, quotes, etc., at my new blog.

In the last few months I wrote mainly about comparative philosophy, arthāpatti, deontic logic and methodology…

Comparative and Western Philosophy
Why should one engage in non-Western philosophical ideas? The topic is discussed at my new blog, here. On a related line, this post discusses "common sense" and asks whether it is not just "English common sense", this one discusses common prejudices about Indian philosophy, and this post discusses Ankur Barua's discussion on whether there is Philosophy in India. The 172nd Philosophers' Carnival has been, by the way, also hosted on my new blog, here.
This post discusses the McGurk philosophy as an evidence of savikalpa pratyakṣa.

Methodology
As for methodology, this post discusses edited books, for both editors and contributors and this one discusses the methodology of group translations. By the way, in case you are looking for an Indological job, don't miss this post.

Arthāpatti
I recently started a new project on an instrument of knowledge called by Mīmāṃsā authors arthāpatti 'cogent evidence'. You can read about it here, here and here (discussing Kumārila's point of view)

Deontic Logic
As for the deontic logic project, you can read about it here, here (on necessity in Mīmāṃsā) and here (on dyadic conditions).

Great authors
This semester, I am teaching Kumārila's Ślokavārttika. Thus, I get inspired to write this post.
This post discusses a line by Veṅkaṭanātha.
This one discusses Daya Krishna's view of the Nyāyasūtra.

You can find further shorter posts, book announcements, CfP and the like at my new blog.

Deontic logic, Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta and comparative philosophy

Until the end of February, I will be mainly busy working on dentic logic in Mīmāṃsā. You can read about my musings on this topic here (on hermeneutic principles in Mīmāṃsā), here (on prohibitions), here (on the principle of parsimony) and here (on conditional obligations in Mīmāṃsā).
Here you can read some thoughs on comparative philosophy.
You can read here my thoughts on free will in Rāmānuja.

Hayagrīva in South India and other posts

You can read here a new post on Hayagrīva in South India. Another post on Hayagrīva is this one.
If you are interested in Vedānta Deśika (or Veṅkaṭanātha), read these various posts on his ontology and theology, and this one on his aikaśāstrya. On bhakti in Varanasi, read here.
Keen to know more about contemporary Indian philosophy? Read this post. And this one on comparative philosophy in general.
On ritual prescriptions, read here (for the Śrautasūtra perspective) and this one (for the Mīmāṃsā perspective).
My thoughts on how to organise oneself are here.
Some practical suggestions on how to publish one's book are here.

Reuse in texts and art, how to fund your projects and some further thoughts.

A few posts in the last month discuss about reuse in art (this one on Hayagrīva in the Hayagrīva Saṃhitā, this one and this one on the conceptual categories to deal with reuse, this post on my impressions of the first EAAA (European Association of Asian Art and Archaeology) conference).
As for the related problem of reuse in texts, some more posts could be interesting (this one discusses the reasons for marking textual reuse, and this one discusses the alteration of texts). Again, on a connected line of thought (the reuse of Buddhist texts), this post and this one discuss Buddhism in South India and this one discusses the influence of Jain libraries in making texts available.

On being a researcher in Europe, check this and this post (on having your project funded).

As for further topics, this post discusses about theology without faith, this one discusses Mīmāṃsā and Grammar.

Finally, this post discusses my methodology of reading an "Alien" philosophy.

IABS, IDhC conferences and other posts (including various CfP)

You can find a summary of my posts on the IABS (International Association of Buddhist Studies) Conference on my new blog, here.
You can find a summary of my posts on the IDhC (International Dharmakīrti Conference) on my new blog, here.
Further, you can find a post on bhakti and Daya Krishna here.
A post on common misunderstandings of Mīmāṃsā can be read here.
Are you interested in philosophy and epistemology of language and in testimony? Read this CfP.
The Call for Papers for the next CBC can be read here.

Be sure to check my new blog's archives for August and September for further short posts.

On the Indian lack of distinction between linguistic and external reality and other posts

In his contribution to a recent symposium (Does Asia think differently? –Symposium zu Ehre Ernst Steinkellners), as well as in many other publications of him (e.g., Langage et Réalité: sur un épisode de la pensée indienne, 1999), Johannes Bronkhorst answered that yes, there is a substantial difference between “our” thought and the Indian one, in so far as the latter does not distinguish between purely linguistic problems and genuine ones. You can read the rest at my new blog, here.

Are you allowed to perform a malefic sacrifice? If you are, then it seems like the Veda contradicts itself, since elsewhere it prohibits violence. If you are not, why not, given that such sacrifices are prescribed in the Veda? Please read the rest at my new blog, here.

For my impressions of the talks at the IABS conference in Vienna, please check here.

One God, One Śāstra —A panel at the WSC 2015

If you work on Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta, please read this call for papers.

A new post on Hayagrīva and further interesting ones

You can read my June posts (on Mīmāṃsā's theory of language, Hayagrīva, Bogdan Diaconescu, Editing proofs, Veṅkaṭanātha's Buddhist quotes and Philosophy) at my new blog, here.

Is interdisciplinarity easier for scholars of South Asian studies? On the 5th Coffee Break Conference

Last week in Rome the 5th Coffee Break Conference took place. During his introductory speech Andrew Ollett asked why was such a project, with an explicit emphasis on a interdisciplinary approach, born exactly among scholars and students of South Asian studies. Please read the rest at my new blog, here.

Kumārila on sentence meaning

Who are the opponents in Kumārila's Ślokavārttika (henceforth ŚV), chapter on sentence-meaning? And did the ŚV set the standard for all further discussions on the topic?
Please read the rest at my new blog, here.

Is Vyāḍi meant when Jayanta refers to “exclusion”?

Is Jayanta referring to Vyāḍi when he lists various positions at the beginning of his discussion about the sentence-meaning, in his Nyāyamañjarī, book 5? Read the answer at my new blog.

Who invented the apoha theory? On Kunjunni Raja 1986

Who invented the apoha theory? If you, like me, are prone to answer "Dignāga" and to add that Dignāga (as shown by Hattori) was inspired by Bhartṛhari's theory and that Dharmakīrti and Dharmottara later fine-tuned Dignāga's one, you are ready to have your view challenged by K. Kunjunni Raja's article in Buddhist Logic and Epistemology (ed. by B.K. Matilal and R.D. Evans, 1986). Please read the rest at my new blog, here.

Sucarita Miśra on apoha —On Kataoka 2014a

Who is the most productive scholar on Indian Philosophy? Kei Kataoka is surely in the top-10 (have a look at his publications here).
He has just published a critical edition of the apoha section of Sucarita’s commentary on the Ślokavārttika. Please read the rest at my new blog, here.

Who studied Mīmāṃsā deontics?

Since Mīmāṃsā (both in its Bhāṭṭa and in its Prābhākara subschools) focused primarily on the exegesis of the prescriptive portion of the Vedic Sacred Texts, the Mīmāṃsā texts offer richly developed discussions of deontic issues, both from a linguistic and from a logic point of view. Unfortunately, the lack of philosophically accessible translations has made most of such discussions remain confined to Sanskritists. Please read the rest at my new blog, here.

Possible applications of Mīmāṃsā deontics: on Chaudhuri and Vardi

There are fields in which the contribution of applied ethics and deontics are more than needed, such as that of the programming of artificial intelligence connected to robots which might interact with human beings. Chaudhuri and Vardi (their article can be downloaded here) quote the following case: (please read the rest at my new blog, here).

Helmut Krasser, the Rebel Sanskritist

Who would laugh about both Christianity and Buddhism, about cancer and the Academia?
Helmut Krasser!

मीमांसान्याययोः शब्दविषये विवादः -१-

पूर्वमीमांसासूत्रे सू॰ १।१।६ अरभ्य सू॰ १।१।२३ पर्यन्तम् शब्दस्वरूपविषये नैयायिकानां पूर्वपक्षाः प्रदर्शिताः (१।१।६--१।१।११) प्रतिवदिताश्च । शेषं तु इह पठितव्यम् ।

“If you want to keep on with this work, you have to be proactive”—An interview with Chiara Barbati —Part 2

An interview about Central Asia, linguistics and how to have an academic career…