Personal Identity and Buddhist Philosophy: Empty Persons (Ashgate World Philosophies Series) 2nd Edition by Mark Siderits (PDF)

Description

Since the publication of Mark Siderits’ important book in 2003, much has changed in the field of Buddhist philosophy. There has been unprecedented growth in analytic metaphysics, and a considerable amount of new work on Indian theories of the self and personal identity has emerged. Fully revised and updated, and drawing on these changes as well as on developments in the author’s own thinking, Personal Identity and Buddhist Philosophy, second edition explores the conversation between Buddhist and Western Philosophy showing how concepts and tools drawn from one philosophical tradition can help solve problems arising in another. Siderits discusses afresh areas involved in the philosophical investigation of persons, including vagueness and its implications for personal identity, recent attempts by scholars of Buddhist philosophy to defend the attribution of an emergentist account of personhood to at least some Buddhists, and whether a distinctively Buddhist antirealism can avoid problems that beset other forms of ontological anti-foundationalism.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐In Personal Identity and Buddhist Philosophy, Mark Siderits defends some of the major tenants of Buddhism. More specifically, he spends the first half of the book defending the famous “no-self” view, and spells out its implications. In the second half of the book, Siderits argues in favor of the Madhyamaka interpretation of Buddhism against the earlier Abhidharmist interpretation.This book can be tough to read and understand. Nonetheless, it’s one of the best books in contemporary Buddhist philosophy.Let me explain a bit more who would benefit from this book. Suppose you’ve been trained in analytical philosophy. Analytical philosophy, at its best, aims for clarity, precision, and rigor in argument. However, the problem is that Buddhist philosophy is often inaccessible to outsiders, including philosophers trained in the Western tradition. Many of the classical Buddhist texts seem extremely dense and obscure in part because they were written with different expectations in mind than texts in the Western philosophical tradition (classical Buddhist texts often rely on commentators for their explication). Yet Buddhist philosophy has profound insight into the areas that Western philosophers have been concerned with, such as the nature of reality, personal identity, ethics, and so on.This is where Siderits’ book is very helpful. Siderits gives relatively clear and rigorous arguments for Buddhist views that analytical philosophers in the Western tradition can access and understand. Let me be clear though: this is not an easy read by any means. You should have some background in philosophy before you begin, and you can expect it to be hard going in parts even if you do. I found the last few chapters on Madhyamaka to be especially tough. I should also say that you might want to first read Derek Parfit’s work on personal identity before you begin Siderits’ book, as Siderits’ arguments pick up to some extent where Parfit left off.Nonetheless, this is also an extremely rewarding book. I learned a great deal about Buddhist philosophy of course, but I also found myself persuaded that Buddhists might be right about some core beliefs, such as the “no self” view. Since reading Siderits’ book, I went on to read most of the other books on Buddhism from an analytical perspective and Personal Identity and Buddhist Philosophy remains my personal favorite. It’s more rigorous and profound than most of the other stuff out there. So, if you’re like me–trained in analytical philosophy but ignorant about the details of the Buddhist tradition–this is a great place to start learning about Buddhist philosophy.

Keywords

Free Download Personal Identity and Buddhist Philosophy: Empty Persons (Ashgate World Philosophies Series) 2nd Edition in PDF format
Personal Identity and Buddhist Philosophy: Empty Persons (Ashgate World Philosophies Series) 2nd Edition PDF Free Download
Download Personal Identity and Buddhist Philosophy: Empty Persons (Ashgate World Philosophies Series) 2nd Edition 2017 PDF Free
Personal Identity and Buddhist Philosophy: Empty Persons (Ashgate World Philosophies Series) 2nd Edition 2017 PDF Free Download
Download Personal Identity and Buddhist Philosophy: Empty Persons (Ashgate World Philosophies Series) 2nd Edition PDF
Free Download Ebook Personal Identity and Buddhist Philosophy: Empty Persons (Ashgate World Philosophies Series) 2nd Edition