HKUST Philosophy Seminar
\nTitle: The Unfolding of Empiricism in India
\n\;
\nSpeaker: Professor Charles Goodman\, Professor\; Director/Program in Philosophy\, Politics and Law\, Binghamton University\, State University of New York
\nTime: 3:30 &ndash\; 5 pm (Hong Kong time\; also UTC+8)
\nDate: August 9\, 2023 (Weds)
\nFormat: Hybrid (Room 3301\, main academic building\, near Lift 17-18\, HKUST and over Zoom)
\nZoom link: https://hkust.zoom.us/j/2339946015 Meeting ID: 233 994 6015 (no password)
\n(All are welcome! No registration required.)
\nThe Unfolding of Empiricism in India
\nCharles Goodman
\nAbstract:
\nBuddhist epistemologists in India were committed to a form of empiricism. \; Through the unfolding of this key tenet\, they would make a series of intellectual discoveries &ndash\; and also\, it could be argued\, several important mistakes &ndash\; that anticipated parallel developments in the British empiricist tradition. \; Views found in both of these traditions include utilitarianism\, idealism\, and bundle theory.
\nPerhaps the single most striking of these parallels is the appearance in Indian Buddhism of a regularity theory of causation. \; This view may have been first proposed by Vasubandhu\, was developed by Dharmakīrti\, and is explained in detail and with great sophistication in the Tattvasaṃgraha of Śāntarakṣita. \; Appreciating the significance of this theory may help us find a better understanding of a famously puzzling passage in which Dharmakīrti countenances the possibility that causation itself could be conventional. \; The regularity theory of causation also may have played a key and hitherto unappreciated role in Śāntideva&rsquo\;s argument for the cognitive inappropriateness of anger. \;
\nBio:
\nCharles Goodman is a Professor in the Philosophy Department and the Department of Asian and Asian-American Studies at Binghamton University. \; He is interested in ethics\, metaphysics and epistemology in South Asian\, Tibetan and Chinese traditions. \; He is the author of Consequences of Compassion: An Interpretation and Defense of Buddhist Ethics (2009) and a co-author of Moonpaths: Ethics and Emptiness (2016). \;His translations from Sanskrit include The Training Anthology of Śāntideva (2016) and The Tattvasaṃgraha of Śāntarakṣita: Selected Metaphysical Chapters (2022.) He has also published articles on Buddhist philosophy and on applied ethics.
\n\nOrganizer: Dr. Jenny Hung (hmjhung@ust.hk)\, Division of Humanities\, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
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