Self and Personal Identity: Vedāntic, Buddhist, Naiyāyika, and Cārvāka Views

This Sunday, Professor Stephen Phillips will be presenting an advanced webinar on everybody’s favorite topic: self and personal identity.

This is one of the most interesting of all possible topics; it is certainly the most popular one in the MeetupVerse. But it is also one of the most philosophically important topics in Western history, one that finds its tendrils in a broad spectrum of scholarly discourse—from philosophy of mind and depth psychology to mysticism and religious studies.

It is a central tenet of modern philosophy that any exploration of knowable entities must commence with an examination of the self—the agent that perceives, cogitates, and articulates. Before we can attain an accurate understanding of anything external, it is crucial to investigate the processes and faculties inherent in the knower.

Descartes, Kant, Locke, Hume, and Heidegger have all stressed that our understanding of the external world is mediated by the characteristics and limitations of the knowing subject. Far from merely passive, the self serves as an interpretative lens through which we engage with and make sense of reality.

Consequently, our foundational metaphysics/metaphor of selfhood makes a difference. Being presented here are the top four most popular selfhood models, as articulated by the world’s greatest phenomenologists.

Program Overview

• The Vedāntic Paradigm — Explore the link between self and Brahman, the foundational essence underlying all reality. See how this aligns with panpsychism.
• Buddhist Doctrine of Anātman — Examine the Buddhist ‘no-self’ doctrine from the POV of today’s neuropsychology of ego fabrication.
• Naiyāyika Epistemic Self — Delve into the Naiyāyika focus on the logical and epistemological validation of the self. This resonates with contemporary debates in cognitive science and within schools of thought like epistemic dualism.
• Cārvāka Materialism — Understand the Cārvāka view that reduces the self to mere physical matter, analogous to the sexy eliminative materialist stance and physicalist approaches to consciousness.

Though lacking modern neuroscience, the great Ācāryas were experts in empirical mental study. Their rigorous methods give their insights into reality a foundation in objective understanding, elevating their work beyond mere speculation.

Join us for a seminar that promises not just expository illumination but deep, transformative understanding. By studying the ancient debates on this topic, we get to join a millennia-long debate at the core of philosophical, mystical, and spiritual endeavor. These inquiries are not irrelevant abstractions, but pertain intimately to our existential commitments, our moral compass, and our understanding of the world.

METHOD

Study materials have been prepared for you here:

• Phillips Webinar Study Materials

About the Speaker

Stephen Phillips (AB Harvard 1975, PhD Harvard 1982) is a professor emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin and has been visiting professor of philosophy at the University of Hawaii and Jadavpur University. Author of eleven books, including Aurobindo’s Philosophy of Brahman (1984), Classical Indian Metaphysics (1995, Indian edition 1998), and Yoga, Karma, and Rebirth (2009), he has more recently written Classical Indian Epistemology (2012), which presents classical Indian views in terminology suited for philosophy professionals. With Matthew Dasti he published The Nyāya-sūtra: Selections with Early Commentaries (2017), and with Dasti and Nirmalya Guha a short text, God and the World’s Arrangement: Vedānta and Nyāya Philosophy of Religion (2021).

Phillips teamed with N.. Ramanuja Tatacharya to translate the perception chapter of the monumental fourteenth-century Tattva-cinta-mani, or [Wish-fulfilling] Jewel of Reflection on the Truth about Epistemology, by Gaṅgeśa (2004, Indian edition 2008). A translation of the entire text, in three volumes has now been published by Bloomsbury (2020). His most recent book is The Metaphysics of Meditation: Sri Aurobindo and Adi Sankara on the Īśā Upaniṣad (in press, Bloomsbury).

Phillips’ SEP Articles

• Epistemology in Classical Indian Philosophy (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
• Gaṅgeśa (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Note: This event is organized by the Society of Indian Academics in America (SIAA) and will utilize a distinct Zoom link, separate from the one typically used for our regular meetings.