Indian Philosophies

This course will survey the rich and sophisticated tradition of Indian philosophical thought from its beginnings in the speculations of Upanishads, covering debates among different varieties of Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and materialistic philosophers. We will explore what these profound thinkers had to say about such questions as the problem of suffering, the nature of world and the place which human beings occupy within it, what constitutes real knowledge and how can we know anything, the liberative and constructive power of language, is there such a thing as freedom, and what role does logic play in making sense of our world. No background in South Asia is required, and students trained in Philosophy and Classics in particular are most warmly welcome.