[INDOLOGY] Histories of Philosophy in a Global Perspective of the University of Hildesheim

[Karl-Stephan Bouthillette]

Dear colleagues,

I hope this message finds you in good health.

I am reaching out to you both to inform you about a new research platform (in the making) which you might eventually find most useful, and to solicitate your help in its actual production.

I am talking about the ambitious Koselleck-Projekt - Geschichten der Philosophie in globaler Perspektive (Histories of Philosophy in a Global Perspective) launched at the University of Hildesheim, in Germany. 
You may find the Website here: https://www.uni-hildesheim.de/en/histories-of-philosophy/

For your information, Reinhart Koselleck Projects are meant to enable outstanding researchers with a proven scientific track record to pursue exceptionally innovative, higher-risk projects. With its ambitious multi-lingual, multi-cultural, and pluri-disciplinary approach, the Histories of Philosophy in a Global Perspective of the University of Hildesheim, guided by Professor Dr. phil. habil. Rolf Elberfeld, has secured the first grant ever attributed by the DFG/Koselleck to a philosophical project.

It is thus an honor for me to be an associate member of the team and to contribute to its online-platform.

My contribution, at this initial stage, consists in building up a list of Indian doxographical materials, to be included within a broad repertoire of similar materials in different languages (Ancient Greek, Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Spanish, Tibetan, Turkish). Initially, the list only aims to be descriptive, but we hope to eventually be able to include the given texts directly on the platform, which is free and available to all, making it an invaluable tool for research. As you can already witness on the Website, the list has already begun for several languages and includes quantity of materials. However, the five years project is only one year old and much remains to be done.

For this reason, I am reaching out to you to request your inputs. With your profound knowledge of the field and its existing literature, concerning untranslated manuscripts or edited sources, your help would be much useful.

I thus invite you to contact me off-list for any suggestion of possible ‘doxographical’ titles to be included in the list. 
(you may use the present email address: karl-stephan.bouthillette.1 at ulaval.ca).

 As a reminder, by ‘doxography’ I mean: 

1. either a whole text, or a part of a text:
2. where competing views of philosophers or schools are presented following a division of topics organized into sets and sub-sets with specific differences to which a name-label is attached in most cases;
3. where the original argumentative support of such views may or may not be given;
4. where the author’s own view and arguments may or may not be criticized;
5. where the content consists either in literal or in non-literal renderings of sources; and
6. where the overall concern is primarily systematic, dialectic, with little or no historiographical character.

At least, this is the definition I presented in my last book "Dialogue and Doxography in Indian Philosophy: Points of View in Buddhist, Jaina, and Advaita Vedānta Traditions" (Routledge, 2020). It is broad and precise enough to orient the composition of the present list.

If you were interested in feeding me with your knowledge, I would be most obliged if you could indicate within your messages some of the following information concerning the texts:

1.	Title (This is a bare minimum)
2.	Traditional belonging (for ex. Madhyamaka, Jaina, Advaita…)
3.	Approximate date
4.	Brief description of contents (the list of schools presented)
5.	Edited or not. (if you know the publication source, kindly mention it)

I hope that you may find as much value in this project as I do. In time, it will prove to be an invaluable research tool for anyone interested in Indian philosophy, accessible to all within an easily navigable online platform. 

Your help in this undertaking will be of benefits to all.

On this, I humbly thank you in advance for your time and consideration.


Cordialement,

Dr. Karl-Stéphan Bouthillette
FWO Postdoctoral Researcher at Ghent University
Associate member of the Koselleck-Project - Histories of Philosophy in a Global Perspective