Comparative Philosophy and J.L. Shaw

As a Festschrift, this book celebrates and honours the scholarly achievements of Professor Jaysankar Lal Shaw, one of the most eminent and internationally acclaimed comparative philosophers of our times. Original works by leading international philosophers and logicians are presented here, exploring themes such as: meaning, negation, perception and Indian and Buddhist systems of philosophy, especially Nyaya perspectives.

Professor Shaw’s untiring effort to solve some of the problems of contemporary philosophy of language, logic, epistemology, metaphysics and morals from the perspectives of classical Indian philosophers or systems of philosophy is deserving of a tribute. Chapters in this volume reflect the diverse aspects of Shaw’s contribution to comparative philosophy and are organised into four sections: Language, Epistemology, Mathematics and Logic, Ethics and Politics.

These chapters would appeal to anyone interested in philosophy or East-West thinking, including students and professionals. Graduates and researchers with interests in epistemology, metaphysics, political philosophy, logic and non-western philosophy will find this work highly relevant.

Regarding the editors, Purushottama Bilimoria is a honorary professor at Deakin University and research fellow at the University of Melbourne in Australia, a Visiting Professor and Lecturer at University of California, Berkeley and Graduate Theological Union; Michael Hemmingsen is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Philosophy at McMaster University, Ontario, Canada.

Introduction; Purushottama Bilimoria & Michael Hemmingsen.- Part I Language.- J. L. Shaw on Meaning; Partha S. Das.- Noun Phrases and Truth in the Nyāya and Western Pragmatics; David Lumsden.- Controversy over the Availability of Frege’s Sense in Indian Philosophy of Language: The Case of J.L. Shaw and the Nyāya; Amitabha Das Gupta.- The Radical Emptiness of Empty Terms: Saving the Buddhists from the Nyāya; Fred Kroon.- The Nyāya on Identity Relation and Identity Statements; Tamoghna Sarkar.- Part II Epistemology.- The Relevance of Indian Epistemology to Contemporary Western Philosophy; J.L. Shaw.- Nyāya, J. L. Shaw and Epistemic Luck; Payal Doctor.- The Nyāya Misplacement Theory of Illusion & the Metaphysical Problem of Perception; Anand Jayprakash Vaidya.- Contents of Experience: Revisited; Monima Chadha.- Part III Mathematics and Logic.- What Part of ‘Not’ Don’t We Understand?; Nicholas Griffin.- Negation (Abhāva) in the Mimāṃsā as Real Non-Existent and a Distinctive Pramāna; Purushottama Bilimoria.- The Logical Structure of the Third and Fifth Definitions in the Vyāptipañcaka Section of Gaṅgeśa’s Tattvacintāmaṇi; Toshihiro Wada.- Mathematical Existence via Necessary Properties: Some Conceptual Challenges to J.L. Shaw; Rafal Urbaniak.- Application of Nyāya to Intelligent Systems; G.S. Mahalakshmi.- Part IV Ethics.- Artificial Intelligences and Karma: An Evaluation of Information Technology in Light of J.L. Shaw’s Concept of Moral Free Will; Papia Mitra.- Conceptions and Intuitions of the Highest Good in Buddhist Philosophy: A Meta-Ethical Analysis; Gordon F. Davis.