55. Doors of Perception: Dignāga on Consciousness
Dignāga argues that all perception is accompanied by self-awareness.
Themes:
• C. Coseru, Perceiving Reality: Consciousness, Intentionality, and Cognition in Classical Buddhist Philosophy (New York: 2012).
• J. Ganeri, “Self-Intimation, Memory and Personal Identity,” Journal of Indian Philosophy 27 (1999), 469-83.
• B. Kellner, “Self-Awareness (svasaṃvedana) in Dignāga’s Pramāṇasamuccaya and -vṛtti: a Close Reading,” Journal of Indian Philosophy 38 (2010), 203–31.
• B. Kellner, “Infinite Regress Arguments (anavasthā) in Connection with Self-Awareness (svasaṃvedana): a Closer Look at Dignāga and Dharmakīrti,” Journal of Indian Philosophy 39 (2011), 411–26.
• M. MacKenzie, “The Illumination of Consciousness: Approaches to Self-Awareness in the Indian and Western Traditions,” Philosophy East and West 57 (2007), 40-62.
• M. MacKenzie, “Self-Awareness Without a Self: Buddhism and the Reflexivity of Awareness,” Asian Philosophy 18 (2008), 245-66.
• E. Thompson, “Self, No Self? Memory and Reflexive Awareness,” in M. Siderits et al. (eds), Self, No Self? (Oxford: 2011), 157–76.
• P. Williams, The Reflexive Nature of Awareness: a Tibetan Madhyamaka Defence (Richmond: 1998).
Comments
Music of the Spheres
I really enjoy your references to music within the podcasts. Do you play an instrument and/or have a passion for music history?
In reply to Music of the Spheres by Noctua
Music
I used to play piano back in my teenaged days though I was never very good. I suppose my interest in music (at an intellectual level) is more via my interest in the history of philosophy since the two disciplines were so closely intertwined (as we learned e.g. in episode 133). But I also love certain genres of music like soul and funk music, hence the occasional references to that.
In reply to Music by Peter Adamson
Musica Universalis
Thank you for that wonderful episode (#133) on music and philosophy. I hadn't heard it before, but went back and listened after you mentioned it. So very helpful and illuminating - and now "I Feel Good"!
In reply to Musica Universalis by Noctua
James Brown
... I knew that you would now.
I am wondering how Dignaga &…
I am wondering how Dignaga & Dharmakirti’s take on perception and awareness, and the connection between perception and the “thing-in-itself” might interface with Kant’s epistemology in the Critique of Pure Reason.
I feel like we’re in the same ballpark, but the details elude me.
Also, a continuing fascination of mine is the religious context of these Buddhist thinkers — their philosophical explorations are in the service of liberation (enlightenment), which seems to give a practicality and existential urgency to their work. I am always interested in what drives a philosopher to do the difficult work they do.
Anyone to help me think these two topics through a bit?
In reply to I am wondering how Dignaga &… by Christopher Walker
Buddhism and Kant
Right, I agree that could be an interesting avenue to explore - actually because I teach in Germany, whenever I teach pretty much anything students want to talk about how it compares to Kant. In this case the comparisons seem closer than usual though I wonder whether Kant would say that his intent is less "skeptical" than that of the Buddhists; for example he certainly does not deny that there are noumenal objects, it's just that we cannot know anything about them as such, whereas the Buddhists deny that there is anything that has svabhava (own-being) which seems to be the correlate idea.
Add new comment