Buddhism as Philosophy An Introduction Ashgate World Philosophies Series

There has been a recent upsurge in interest in Buddhist philosophy, but there is as yet no satisfactory text on the subject. Buddhism as Philosophy fills that void. Unlike other texts that serve to introduce Buddhist thought, it is written by a philosopher and it shows how the Buddhist tradition deals with the same sorts of problems that get treated in Western philosophy and employs the same sorts of methods. This book does more than just report what Buddhist philosophers said; it presents the arguments of the Buddhist philosophers, in their own words, and it invites the reader to assess their overall cogency. In short, Buddhism as Philosophy investigates the Buddhist tradition by way of the characteristically philosophical concern for finding out the truth about complicated matters in metaphysics, epistemology and ethics.

Contents: Preface; Buddhism as philosophy?; Early Buddhism: basic teachings; Non-self: empty persons; Buddhist ethics; A Nyaya interlude; Abhidharma: the metaphysics of empty persons; The rise of Mahayana; Yogacara: impressions-only and the denial of physical objects; Madhyamaka: the doctrine of emptiness; The school of Dinnaga: Buddhist epistemology. Index.

Mark Siderits is Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Illinois State University, USA.