Lecture tag: Philosophy

Truth in Theology

Dr. Ankur Barua (Cambridge)
Professor Keith Ward (Oxford)
Dr. Jessica Frazier (Oxford and Kent)

The question of ‘truth’ in Theology has long been contested. What do we mean by truth in a theological context? How do we assess competing truth claims from theologies of different religions? Can we assess such claims and does the question even make sense? This seminar intends to explore the question of theological truth in relation to Hinduism specifically but drawing on ways that Christianity has dealt with the issue.

The Contested Legacy of Swami Vivekananda

This lecture examines Swami Vivekananda in his time and ours. It will look in particular at his contributions to the work of the Parliament of the World’s Religions, and the “militant Hinduism” that he preached, which interpreted fairly, differs considerably from contemporary Hindu nationalism.

Joseph Prabhu is Professor of Philosophy and Religion at California State University, Los Angeles and occasional Visiting Professor at the University of Chicago. He is active as both a scholar and a peace activist. He has edited The Intercultural Challenge of Raimon Panikkar (Orbis Books, 1996) and co-edited the two-volume Indian Ethics: Classical Traditions and Contemporary Challenges (Ashgate Publishing Co, 2007;  Springer and Oxford University Press, India, 2016).He has authored Raimon Panikkar as a Modern Spiritual Master (Orbis Books, 2015). He has been a Senior Fellow of the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard University and of the Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago. He has also been co-editor of ReVision from 1995-2003, and a contributing editor of Zygon. He is the past President of the international Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy, 2008-2010, and the Program Chair for the Melbourne Parliament of the World’s Religions, 2009. He served on the Board of Trustees and the Executive Committee of the Council of a Parliament of the World’s Religions from 2005-2011. He has lectured and taught at more than seventy universities either as visiting professor or as guest lecturer in Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe and the United States.

Theories of Life and the Origins of Religion

Religion and the Philosophy of Life Series.

This introductory lecture will examine the idea that the bio-energy of life itself is expressed through religious practices (that are teleological) and theologies that reflect the meanings of practice (and so the meanings of life itself and life mediated through language). In short, religions can be fruitfully accounted for in terms of the transformation of face-to-face social cognition at the level of culture that in turn controls face-to-face interactions through law or religious injunction and narrative.

This entails an empirical claim that the origins of religion can be explained in terms of the evolution of human interactivity that we call social cognition, a historical claim that philosophies of life have been articulated in the history of religions particularly through scholasticism, and a philosophical claim, itself grounded in the empirical and historical, that religions can be understood in terms of a realist ontology of life. All this will be set in the context of contemporary theories of life and the new realism in philosophy.

How do we account for the persistence of religion in human life? To answer this question these lectures will examine the idea of religion in relation to philosophies of life. In particular it will examine the thesis that life itself comes to expression through religions. This entails an empirical claim that the origins of religion can be explained in terms of the evolution of human interactivity, what we call social cognition; a historical claim that philosophies of life have operated within religions in terms of what we might call a transcendent teleology that have continued into secular modernity; and a philosophical claim we can account for the persistence of religion in terms of a realist ontology of life. The three lectures roughly correspond to these interrelated claims.

Hegel and Hinduism: How not to do Cross-Cultural Hermeneutics (HT15)

This seminar will examine Hegel’s interpretation of Hindu philosophy and religion, place it in its hermeneutical context, and critique it.

Joseph Prabhu is Professor of Philosophy and Religion at California State University, Los Angeles and occasional Visiting Professor at the University of Chicago. He is active as both a scholar and a peace activist. He has edited The Intercultural Challenge of Raimon Panikkar (Orbis Books, 1996) and co-edited the two-volume Indian Ethics: Classical Traditions and Contemporary Challenges (Ashgate Publishing Co, 2007;  Springer and Oxford University Press, India, 2016).He has authored Raimon Panikkar as a Modern Spiritual Master (Orbis Books, 2015). He has been a Senior Fellow of the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard University and of the Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago. He has also been co-editor of ReVision from 1995-2003, and a contributing editor of Zygon. He is the past President of the international Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy, 2008-2010, and the Program Chair for the Melbourne Parliament of the World’s Religions, 2009. He served on the Board of Trustees and the Executive Committee of the Council of a Parliament of the World’s Religions from 2005-2011. He has lectured and taught at more than seventy universities either as visiting professor or as guest lecturer in Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe and the United States.

Are Cognitive States Self-Revealing?

According to the Nyaya school of Hindu philosophy, a cognitive state reveals its object but not itself and is revealed by another cognitive state.  Other Hindu philosophers of the Advaita Vedanta philosophical school and Prabhakara (8th century), however, hold that a cognitive state reveals both its object and itself.  I shall discuss the nature of consciousness and self-consciousness and reconstruct how the Nyaya can respond to the formidable arguments offered by the Advaita and Prabhakara.

Readings in Phenomenology: Session 6 (HT 16)

Phenomenology is one of the most important developments in philosophy in the twentieth century that has had a deep impact on Theology and Religious Studies. The reading group seeks to engage with some of the fundamental concepts of phenomenology that underlie much work in Theology and the Phenomenology of Religion. This term we hope to read Pierre Hadot’s Philosophy as a Way of Life: Spiritual Exercises from Socrates to Foucault. Like Heidegger and others, Pierre Hadot felt that it was important for philosophy to recover some of the impulses that had shaped its development in classical culture and religion. Countering the development of phenomenology into an objective ‘science’, Hadot has led moves to reclaim the place of philosophical reflection as a ‘Spiritual Exercise’ concerned with human flourishing, self-development, and humanity’s place in the cosmos. To get some perspective on this development in phenomenology, we will read Pierre Hadot, Philosophy as a Way of Life: Spiritual Exercises from Socrates to Foucault (Oxford: Blackwell, 1995).

Hinduism 2: Hindu Traditions (Paper 21): Lecture 5 (HT 16)

Beginning with the early medieval period, this paper traces the development of Hinduism in devotional (bhakti) and tantric traditions. The paper examines the development of Śaiva, Śākta, and Vaiṣṇava traditions along with ideas about liberation, ritual, asceticism, yoga and devotion. There will be some exploration of Hinduism and Modernity and there may also be reference to major schools of Hindu philosophy such as Vedānta.

Hinduism 2: Hindu Traditions (Paper 21): Lecture 4 (HT 16)

Beginning with the early medieval period, this paper traces the development of Hinduism in devotional (bhakti) and tantric traditions. The paper examines the development of Śaiva, Śākta, and Vaiṣṇava traditions along with ideas about liberation, ritual, asceticism, yoga and devotion. There will be some exploration of Hinduism and Modernity and there may also be reference to major schools of Hindu philosophy such as Vedānta.

Cartesian and Nyaya Psycho-Physical Dualism (HT 16)

According to the psycho-physical dualism of Descartes, the mind and the body are ontologically different substances with essentially different attributes.  Though this viewpoint might help to account for the religious doctrine of immortality of the soul as well as free will and personal identity, it is open to serious objections.  I shall argue that a much older kind of psycho-physical dualism developed by the Nyaya Hindu philosophers is not beset with some of the difficulties of the Cartesian view and can account for such issues as immortality, free will and personal identity.

Readings in Phenomenology: Session 4 (HT 16)

Phenomenology is one of the most important developments in philosophy in the twentieth century that has had a deep impact on Theology and Religious Studies. The reading group seeks to engage with some of the fundamental concepts of phenomenology that underlie much work in Theology and the Phenomenology of Religion. This term we hope to read Pierre Hadot’s Philosophy as a Way of Life: Spiritual Exercises from Socrates to Foucault. Like Heidegger and others, Pierre Hadot felt that it was important for philosophy to recover some of the impulses that had shaped its development in classical culture and religion. Countering the development of phenomenology into an objective ‘science’, Hadot has led moves to reclaim the place of philosophical reflection as a ‘Spiritual Exercise’ concerned with human flourishing, self-development, and humanity’s place in the cosmos. To get some perspective on this development in phenomenology, we will read Pierre Hadot, Philosophy as a Way of Life: Spiritual Exercises from Socrates to Foucault (Oxford: Blackwell, 1995).