History of Philosophy: India, Africana, China

HPI 27 - The Theory of Evolution - Isvarakrsna’s Samkhya-karika

The oldest treatise of Sāṃkhya enumerates the principles of the cosmos and of the human mind.

HPI 26 - Francis Clooney on Vedanta

Francis Clooney joins us to discuss the religious and philosophical aspects of Vedānta.

HPI 25 - Communication Breakdown - Bhartrihari on Language

The grammarian Bhartṛhari argues that the study of language is the path to liberation, because the undivided reality underlying language is brahman.

HPI 24 - No Two Ways About It - Sankara and Advaita Vedanta

Śaṅkara and his “non-dual” (Advaita) Vedānta, which teaches that only brahman is real, and the world of experience and individual self are mere illusion.

Summer Reading

How to fill the month of August while the podcast is on summer break. Buy the book versions of the podcast at Oxford University Press.

HPI 23 - Source Code - Badarayana’s Vedanta-sutra

The founding text of the Vedānta school, the Vedānta- or Brahma-Sūtra, interprets the Upaniṣads as teaching that all things derive from brahman.

HPI 22 - Elisa Freschi on Mimamsa

Mīmāṃsā expert Elisa Freschi speaks to Peter about philosophical issues arising from the interpretation of the Veda.

HPI 21 - Innocent Until Proven Guilty - Mimamsa on Knowledge and Language

The Mīmāṃsā school put their faith in sense experience, and argue that the Veda, and hence language itself, had no beginning.

HPI 20 - Master of Ceremonies - Jaimini’s Mimamsa-Sutra

In the Mīmāṃsā school’s founding text, Jaimini systematizes Vedic ritual and explores its theoretical basis.

HPI 19 - When in Doubt - the Rise of Skepticism

Skeptical tendences in Indian thought and responses to skepticism from the Mīmāṃsā and Vedānta schools.