The Concealed Art of the Soul. Theories of Self and Practices of Truth in Indian Ethics and Epistemology

Jonardon GANERI, The Concealed Art of the Soul. Theories of Self and Practices of Truth in Indian Ethics and Epistemology, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2007, 288 p.
ISBN-10 0-19-920241-9
ISBN-13 978-0-19-920241-6


RÉSUMÉ

In The Concealed Art of the Soul, Jonardon Ganeri presents a variety of perspectives on the nature of the self as seen by major schools of classical Indian philosophy. For Indian thinkers, a philosophical treatise about the self should not only reveal the truth about the nature of the soul, but should also engage the reader in a process of study and contemplation that will eventually lead to self-transformation. By combining careful attention to philosophical content and sensitivity to literary form, Ganeri deepens our understanding of some of the greatest works in Indian literary history. His magisterial survey includes the Upanisads, the Buddha's discourses, the epic Mahabharata, and the writings of Candrakirti, whose work was later to provide the foundation for Tibetan Buddhism. Ganeri argues that many Western theories of selfhood are not only present in, but are developed to high degree of sophistication in these writings, and that there are other ideas about the self found in the work of classical Indian thinkers which present-day analytic philosophers have not yet begun to explore.


TABLE DES MATRIÈRES

PART I - SOUL-SEARCHERS AND SOOTH-SAYERS

1. Hidden in the cave: the Upanisadic self

2. Dangerous truths: the Buddha on silence, secrecy and snakes

3. A cloak of clever words: the deconstruction of deceit in the Mahabharata

PART II - EXHORTATIONS TO ENLIGHTENMENT

4. Words that burn: why did the Buddha say what he did?

5. Words that break: can an Upanisad state the truth?

PART III - A SELFLESS PERSON'S SENSE OF SELF

6. The imperfect reality of rersons

7. Self as performance

APPENDICES

TEXTS AND ABBREVIATIONS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

À PROPOS DE L'AUTEUR

Jonardon Ganeri, Professor of Philosophy, University of Liverpool.