Buddhist Philosophy

Buddhist Philosophy: A Comparative Approach presents a series of readings that examine the prominent thinkers and texts of the Buddhist tradition in the round, introducing contemporary readers to major theories and debates at the intersection of Buddhist and Western thought.

• Takes a comparative, rather than oppositional, approach to Buddhist philosophy, exploring key theories and debates at the intersection of Eastern and Western thought
• Addresses a variety of topics that represent important points of convergence between the Buddhist and Western philosophical traditions
• Features contributions from a wide array of acclaimed international scholars in the discipline
• Provides a much-needed cross-cultural treatment of Buddhist philosophy appropriate for undergraduate students and specialists alike

Notes on Contributors vii

Acknowledgments xi

Abbreviations xiii

Editor’s Introduction 1
Steven M. Emmanuel

1 Buddhist Philosophy as a Way of Life: The Spiritual Exercises of Tsongkhapa 11
Christopher W. Gowans

2 The Other Side of Realism: Panpsychism and Yogācāra 29
Douglas Duckworth

3 Emergentist Naturalism in Early Buddhism and Deweyan Pragmatism 45
John J. Holder

4 Metaphysical Dependence, East and West 63
Ricki Bliss and Graham Priest

5 Metaphysics and Metametaphysics with Buddhism: The Lay of the Land 87
Tom J.F. Tillemans

6 Are Reasons Causally Relevant for Action? Dharmakīrti and the Embodied Cognition Paradigm 109
Christian Coseru

7 Zen’s Nonegocentric Perspectivism 123
Bret W. Davis

8 Rhetoric of Uncertainty in Zen Buddhism and Western Literary Modernism 145
Steven Heine

9 From the Five Aggregates to Phenomenal Consciousness: Toward a Cross‐Cultural Cognitive Science 165
Jake H. Davis and Evan Thompson

10 Embodying Change: Buddhism and Feminist Philosophy 189
Erin A. McCarthy

11 Buddhist Modernism and Kant on Enlightenment 205
David Cummiskey

12 Compassion and Rebirth: Some Ethical Implications 221
John Powers

Further Reading 239

Index 243

STEVEN M. EMMANUEL is Professor of Philosophy at Virginia Wesleyan College, USA. He is the author of Kierkegaard and the Concept of Revelation (1995) and editor of A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy (Wiley Blackwell, 2013), The Blackwell Guide to the Modern Philosophers: From Descartes to Nietzsche (Wiley Blackwell, 2001), and Modern Philosophy: An Anthology (2002).

"Steven Emmanuel has done an excellent job of curating materials that express the richness of Buddhist philosophy and the vast resource it can be for Western philosophers. Bringing together several of the world's leading specialists in this interdisciplinary area, the volume accounts for Western topics of philosophical inquiry within Buddhist thought, and articulates how the two traditions benefit from each other when brought into dialogue. This book is a must for anyone interested in either philosophical perspective, or both."

RICK REPETTI, The City University of New York

"This is an excellent collection of essays by some of the foremost scholars engaging in comparative work between the Buddhist and Western philosophy. Philosophers from both traditions will be excited to explore the potential of studying familiar philosophical problems in metaphysics, ethics, or the philosophy of mind in a new key. This volume serves as a timely reminder for the Western philosophical traditions that our questions are not the only ones worth asking."

Jan Westerhoff, University of Oxford

Buddhist thought has garnered a great deal of attention in Western philosophical scholarship in recent years, but it has historically been approached and studied in opposition to, rather than in conjunction with, Western philosophy. The persistent tendency to regard Eastern traditions of thought as fundamentally "other" rests on the assumption that the questions they pose, and the methods used to investigate them, are incommensurable with Western philosophical practice. Buddhist Philosophy: A Comparative Approach challenges these preconceptions by presenting a series of readings that examine the prominent thinkers and texts of the Buddhist tradition in the round, introducing contemporary readers to major theories and debates at the intersection of Buddhist and Western thought.

Chapters feature contributions from leading scholars trained in the Western philosophical tradition but deeply grounded in Buddhist literature, and serve as a bridge between East and West by engaging in a cross-cultural, even-handed dialogue with Buddhist thinkers on their own terms. Topics addressed include a wide range of points of convergence between the two philosophical traditions—from realism, idealism, and perspectivism to naturalism, physicalism, and the basis of moral judgment. Buddhist beliefs relating to the concepts of consciousness, gender, enlightenment, and rebirth are also explored in detail.

Balancing accessibility with scholarly rigor, Buddhist Philosophy: A Comparative Approach is an informative introduction to the basic tenets of Buddhist thought and its philosophical underpinnings.