-
Views
-
Cite
Cite
Graham Priest, Indian Buddhist Philosophy, The Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 65, Issue 260, July 2015, Pages 585–587, https://doi.org/10.1093/pq/pqu088
Close - Share Icon Share
Extract
Asian philosophical traditions have, for too long, been written off and marginalized in the West. In her book, Carpenter shows how misguided this attitude is. Her topic is one part of one Asian tradition: Buddhist philosophy, as it developed in India from the historical Buddha (c. 500 BCE) to the end of the first millennium, CE; and she shows this to be rich and profound in philosophical thought. Good texts showing to western philosophers the depth and importance of the Asian philosophical traditions are still hard to find. Carpenter's book, though by no means unique in the enterprise, succeeds admirably. I would recommend it to any philosopher who knows nothing of Buddhism but who wants to learn. (I would that there were a comparable book on Chinese Buddhism.)
The first chapter deals with the teaching of the historical Buddha, notably the four noble truths. The second deals with no-self (anātman) and other central parts of the Abhidharma tradition. Chapter 3 concerns what Carpenter calls the Nietzsche objection—more of this below; ch. 4 covers the basis of Mahāyāna Buddhism, in the shape of Nāgārjuna and Madhyamaka. The next chapter takes us into the world of karma, and the following one into debates with Hindu philosophers, mainly Nyāya. Chapter 7 deals with the Yogācāra version of Mahāyāna, focused on Vasubandhu, and the long eighth chapter takes us through developments in the sixth and seventh centuries, covering the epistemology of Dignāga and Dharmakīrti, debates around Candrakīrti, and the work of Śāntideva. A very brief epilogue concerns the later years of the great Buddhist university of Nālandā, the syncretism of Śāntrakṣita and the movement of Buddhism into Tibet. There are helpful appendices, including one on Pāli and Sanskrit, and very helpful mud-maps of the development of Indian Buddhism (pp. xvii-xviii).
