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With a few notable exceptions, analytical philosophy of religion in the West still continues to focus almost entirely on the Iudaeo-Christian tradition. In particular, it is all too customary to ignore the rich fund of concepts and arguments supplied by the Indian religious tradition. This is a pity, for it gratuitously impoverishes the scope of much contemporary philosophy of religion and precludes the attainment of any insights into Indian religions comparable to those that the clarity and rigour of analytic philosophy has made possible for the Iudaeo-Christian tradition. This volume seeks to redress the imbalance. The original idea was to invite a number of Indian and Western philosophers to contribute essays treating of Indian religious concepts in the style of contemporary analytical philosophy of religion. No further restrietion was placed upon the contributors and the resulting essays (all previously unpublished) exhibit a diversity of themes and approaches. Many arrangements of the material herein are doubtless defensible. The rationale for the one that has been adopted is perhaps best presented through some introductory remarks about the essays themselves.
List of contents
1. Some varieties of Indian theological dualism.- 2. From the fabric to the weaver?.- 3. Religions as failed theodicies: atheism in Hinduism and Buddhism.- 4. Scepticism and religion: on the interpretation of N?g?rjuna.- 5. Some varieties of monism.- 6. The concepts of self and freedom in Buddhism.- 7. Reflections on the sources of knowledge in the Indian tradition.- 8. Omniscience in Indian philosophy of religion.- 9. On the idea of authorless revelation (apaurus?eya).- 10. ?am?kara on metaphor with reference to G?t? 13.12-18.- 11. Salvation and the pursuit of social justice.- 12. Caste, karma and the G?t?.- Contributors' addresses.
