Foreword, by Leah Kalmanson
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Editor’s Introduction, by Steven M. Emmanuel
1. How Should We Live? Happiness, Human Flourishing, and the Good
Human Life, by Stephen J. Laumakis
2. What Is Knowledge? Knowledge in the Context of Buddhist Thought,
by Douglas Duckworth
3. Does Reality Have a Ground? Madhyamaka and Nonfoundationalism,
by Jan Westerhoff
4. Can Consciousness Be Explained? Buddhist Idealism and the “Hard
Problem” in Philosophy of Mind, by Dan Arnold
5. Is Anything We Do Really Up to Us? Western and Buddhist
Philosophical Perspectives on Free Will, by Rick Repetti
6. Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People? “And None of Us
Deserving the Cruelty or the Grace”—Buddhism and the Problem of
Evil, by Amber D. Carpenter
7. How Much Is Enough? Greed, Prosperity, and the Economic Problem
of Happiness—a Comparative Perspective, by Steven M. Emmanuel
8. What Do We Owe Future Generations? Compassion and Future
Generations—a Buddhist Contribution to an Ethics of Global
Interdependence, by Peter D. Hershock
Concluding Remarks, by Steven M. Emmanuel
For Further Reading and Study
Contributors
Index
Steven M. Emmanuel is professor of philosophy and dean of the Susan S. Goode School of Arts and Humanities at Virginia Wesleyan University. He is the editor of Buddhist Philosophy: A Comparative Approach (2018) and A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy (2013), as well as many publications on major figures in the modern European tradition.
What is philosophy? An accurate response to this question should
incorporate and embrace non-Western philosophy. For teachers
looking to broaden the canon, Steven Emmanuel’s Philosophy’s Big
Questions provides an excellent, accessible, intercultural
introduction to philosophy. Topically arranged, each chapter fully
integrates, without assimilating, Western and Buddhist sources.
*David Cummiskey, author of Kantian Consequentialism*
Interest in Buddhist philosophy has grown exponentially in recent
years. These essays demonstrate that Buddhist philosophy has
significant contributions to make in the major areas of
philosophical inquiry. From foundational topics in metaphysics,
epistemology, and ethics to more focused philosophical issues
pertaining to mind, religion, and morality, they insightfully
explore important questions of perennial concern in Western as well
as Buddhist traditions.
*Christopher W. Gowans, author of Buddhist Moral Philosophy: An
Introduction*
Philosophy's Big Questions redefines comparative philosophy for the
undergraduate classroom by providing a fresh exploration of the
perennial questions of philosophy in light of the contributions
Buddhism can make to these conversations. The eight thematic
essays—expertly crafted by foremost scholars—offer a broad and
accessible introduction to philosophy that easily puts to rest any
doubts about the value of comparative philosophy.
*John J. Holder, editor and translator of Early Buddhist
Discourses*
Our big questions are above all human questions about the things
that matter most—happiness, relationships, fairness, or the mystery
of mind itself. This brilliant volume provides a rich array of
Buddhist responses to such questions. It breaks new ground in
placing the creativity of time-honored Buddhist thinkers in
conversation with, but not secondary to, western-formulated
questions on free will, evil, or the power of compassion. Each
chapter expands the territory over which our own reflections can
roam. I can't wait to share this profoundly relevant work with
colleagues, students, and friends, and to reflect on it myself amid
the plentiful conundrums of daily life.
*Anne Carolyn Klein, author of Meeting the Great Bliss Queen:
Buddhists, Feminists, and the Art of the Self*
This is a wonderful book, and it would be a great text for a course
on cross-cultural philosophy. The articles are all well-written and
do an outstanding job of identifying 'big questions' that have
concerned Asian and Western philosophers. The responses to these
questions and the approaches taken are distant enough to provide
genuine space for dialogue, and close enough that each can learn
from the other. This is just the kind of book we need to move
forward with truly global philosophy.
*John Powers, author of A Bull of A Man: Images of Masculinity,
Sex, and the Body in Indian Buddhism*
Philosophy's Big Questions makes the case that by exploring
multiple traditions we can understand our questions and views
differently, opening up new possibilities of thought and
imagination, and new ways of understanding the practice of
philosophy itself. The contributors to this volume include some of
the most significant scholars in Buddhist philosophy writing today.
The chapters are excellent, and their approach will be relevant and
accessible to students.
*William Edelglass, Barre Center for Buddhist Studies and Emerson
College*
Anyone with any abiding interest in Buddhist philosophy or
cross-cultural philosophy, or anyone who teaches courses on such
things, should find Philosophy's Big Questions a welcome volume
with which to probe the contours of Buddhist philosophical premises
and positions.
*Reading Religion*
A remarkable work of scholarship.
*East Asian Journal of Popular Culture*
This collection of essays comes with great value not only for
specialists but also for students who want to learn how to do
philosophy cross-culturally.
*Philosophy East and West*
Philosophy should be a practice that generates the wisdom to
acknowledge one’s boundaries and aspire to go beyond them in the
pursuit of happiness. This superb collection does exactly this.
*Religious Studies Review*
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