[INDOLOGY] Book Announcement --- Hinduism: A Contemporary Philosophical Investigation

[Shyam Ranganathan]

Dear List Members,

I would like to share with you news of my in-press book. It is scheduled 
to be out in July, which is late to be considered for September teaching 
and research, so I thought I would announce it now, in case it is 
relevant to your fall research or teaching work.

The book is called /Hinduism: A Contemporary Philosophical Investigation 
<https://www.routledge.com/Hinduism-A-Contemporary-Philosophical-Investigation/Ranganathan/p/book/9781138909106> 
/(Routledge 2019).

Its part of a larger series, titled /Investigating Philosophy of 
Religion/. Each peer reviewed volume is dedicated to a single religion. 
So far the volumes for Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism are 
in-press or released.

Here is the publisher’s back of book blurb:

    /Hinduism: A Contemporary Philosophical Investigation/ explores
    Hinduism and the distinction between the secular and religious on a
    global scale. According to Ranganathan, a careful philosophical
    study of Hinduism reveals it as the microcosm of philosophical
    disagreements with Indian resources, across a variety of topics,
    including: ethics, logic, the philosophy of thought, epistemology,
    moral standing, metaphysics, and politics. This analysis offers an
    original and fresh diagnosis of studying Hinduism, colonialism and a
    global rise of hyper-nationalism, as well as the frequent acrimony
    between scholars and practitioners of Hindu traditions.

    This text is appropriate for use in undergraduate and graduate
    courses on Hinduism, and Indian philosophy, and can be used as an
    advanced introduction to the problems of philosophy with South Asian
    resources.

Here is the TOC:

    Preface

    Chapter 1. Introduction

    Chapter 2. Hinduism and the Limits of Interpretation

    Chapter 3. Bhakti: the Fourth Moral Theory

    Chapter 4. Logic: The Nectar of Immortality

    Chapter 5. Subcontinent Dharma, the Global Alt-Right and the
    Philosophy of Thought

    Chapter 6. /Jñāna: Pramāṇa, Satya /and /Citta/ (Not: Justified,
    True, Belief)

    Chapter 7. Moral Standing: Who Counts, Gods and the After Life

    Chapter 8. Metaphysics: Two Truths

    Chapter 9. The Politics of the Milk Ocean: /Mokṣa/

    Chapter 10. Conclusion

    /Index/

Just to clarify: the book is not primarily about Hindu philosophy. It’s 
an account of Hinduism, the religion. Hence, to get to this point, I 
provide a general account of how something comes to be identified as a 
religion in our world (it is political and has to do with the tradition 
I call the /W/est---italicized upper case "W") and note that Hinduism is 
the odd member of this club: whereas most religions are identifiable 
with some minimal comprehensive view, figure, text, or doctrine, 
Hinduism is simply the microcosm of philosophical disagreements, with a 
South Asian twist. So in the end, I do review and explore dissenting 
Hindu philosophies but as a means of representing Hinduism in terms of 
its disagreements. The other topic of this book is the /W/est, a 
tradition that identifies its cultural contingencies with the very 
content of thought itself, disappearing alien moral and political 
theorizing and in its place identifying religions to be studied social 
scientifically and not as a contribution to philosophy. The 
methodological distinction between interpretation (the method of the 
/W/est) and explication (the method of philosophy) plays an important 
part in this argument too.

I would like to thank all the scholars (who frequently take opposing 
views) whose contribution to the field and also this list informed my 
thinking about that massive religion called Hinduism.  Just when I 
thought I had some idea about what Hinduism is, a scholar would share 
their work and I would have to revise my conception of Hinduism, 
eventually leading me to the idea that it's just more accurate to talk 
about Hinduism in terms of its disagreements than some common platform.

Best wishes,

Shyam


-- 

Shyam Ranganathan

Department of Philosophy

York Center for Asian Research
York University, Toronto

shyam-ranganathan.info <http://shyam-ranganathan.info/>

/Hinduism: A Contemporary Philosophical Investigation 
<https://www.routledge.com/Hinduism-A-Contemporary-Philosophical-Investigation/Ranganathan/p/book/9781138909106>/

/The Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Indian Ethics 
<http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/the-bloomsbury-research-handbook-of-indian-ethics-9781472587770/>/

/Patañjali`s Yoga Sūtras 
<http://penguin.co.in/book/classics/patanjalis-yoga-sutra/>/ (Translation, 
Edition and Commentary)

/Translating Evaluative Discourse: The Semantics of Thick and Thin 
Concepts <https://philpapers.org/rec/SHYTED>/

Full List, Publications <https://philpapers.org/s/shyam%20ranganathan>




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