Dear All,I am happy to inform that my new book "Fire, Death and Philosophy. A History of Ancient Indian Thinking" has just appeared. You can find the book at http://www.24naukowa.plBest,JoannaAbstract:This monograph is a continuation of the research presented in 'Fire and Cognition in the Ṛgveda' (2010). The sources which I analyze here are: the late hymns of the Ṛgveda, the “philosophical” hymns of the Atharvaveda, cosmogonies of the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa and selected parts of the oldest Upaniṣads, composed before the Buddha (Bṛhadāraṇyaka, Chāndogya, Aitareya, Taittirīya and Kauṣītaki). The basic claims of the research are as follows. Firstly, the composers of these texts continue the metaphysical assumptions of the Ṛgveda, according to which fire is the metaphysical principle underlying reality. This continuity is expressed not only in the exegesis expressed in the texts, but also in the ritual practice which is presented in detail in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa. Secondly, the diachronic approach allows me to track how the thought changed, how new concepts and theories appear and develop. It also allows me to propose possible reasons for these changes. Thirdly, my approach allows me to reconstruct the belief in rebirth which is presented in these texts. As in my previous book, my tools are traditional philology and cognitive linguistics, because the features of these texts are similar to the Ṛgveda and their explicit form is difficult to comprehend, especially as far as the philosophical content is concerned. The early Indian texts open the way to the beginnings of human philosophical thinking and show that abstract and general thinking can be created in the oral tradition.
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dr hab. Joanna Jurewicz, prof. UWKatedra Azji Południowej /Chair of South AsiaWydział Orientalistyczny / Faculty of Oriental StudiesUniwersytet Warszawski /University of Warsawul. Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/2800-927 Warszawa