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Jnanasrimitra (975-1025) was regarded by both Buddhists and non-Buddhists as the most important Indian philosopher of his generation. His theory of exclusion combined a philosophy of language with a theory of conceptual content to explore the nature of words and thought. Jnanasrimitra's theory informed much of the work accomplished at Vikramasila, a monastic and educational complex instrumental to the growth of Buddhism. His ideas were also passionately debated among successive Hindu and Jain philosophers.
This volume marks the first English translation of Jnanasrimitra's Monograph on Exclusion, a careful, critical investigation into language, perception, and conceptual awareness. Featuring the rival arguments of Buddhist and Hindu intellectuals, among other thinkers, the Monograph reflects more than half a millennium of competing claims while providing an invaluable introduction to a crucial philosopher. Lawrence J. McCrea and Parimal G. Patil familiarize the reader with the author, themes, and topics of the text and situate Jnanasrimitra's findings within his larger intellectual milieu. Their clear, accessible, and accurate translation proves the influence of Jnanasrimitra on the foundations of Buddhist and Indian philosophy.
Buddhist Philosophy of Language in India: Jnanasrimitra on Exclusion, Lawrence J. McCrea and Parimal G. Patil, Columbia University Press, Hardcover, 2010, 204 pages, $82.50
Larry McCrea received his Ph.D. in South Asian Languages & Civilizations in 1998 from the University of Chicago, and his BA in 1989 from Cornell University in the Cornell College Scholar Program. His most recent book project ,The Teleology of Poetics in Medieval Kashmir, Harvard Oriental Series Spring 2009, deals with the conceptual revolution in Sanskrit poetic theory brought about by the work of the ninth century Kashmiri Anandavardhana. He argues that the most crucial innovation Anandavardhana introduced in the field of poetics was his application to literary analysis of a teleological approach to text interpretation imported from the discipline of scriptural hermeneutics.
Parimal G Patil is a philosopher and intellectual historian of religion who is interested in South Asian intellectual practices and their relevance to broader issues in The Study of Religion, Philosophy, and Area Studies. He is particularly interested in Indian Buddhism, its intellectual history in Southern Asia, and Buddhist, Hindu, and Jaina debates in aesthetics, epistemology, metaphysics, and philosophy of language. His current work includes a book length project on one such debate during the final phase of Buddhism in India, and articles on Buddhist narrative literature, epistemology, and philosophy of language. More recently, he has also become interested in classical South Asian literature and literary theory, and its relevance to historiography and religious ethics. Other research and teaching interests include, contemporary method and theory in the study of religion; Euro American philosophy of religion; Sanskrit language, literature, and poetics; Hindu studies; and constructive work in the study of Hinduism, especially ethics and theology.
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