140 100

Studienplancodes: BA13, MAB6, MAP5, EC1-3

Termin: Do, 13:30-15:00, SR 1 TB, ab 8.3.

Unterrichtssprache: Englisch

This course will look at a sample of certain recurring East-West problems in ethics, metaphysics and logic, especially those that lend themselves to a comparative perspective with analytic philosophy.

We will begin with Buddhist treatments of ethical matters, looking at inter alia the character of the argumentation and the prospects of seeing "Buddhist ethics" in terms of some form of consequentialism or virtue ethics. We then turn to issues of metaphysics, such as the realist-nominalist controversy in the Buddhist Epistemological school, as well as questions of antirealism and quietism in the Madhyamaka, along the way making an application of Buddhist stances to the philosophy of mind. We conclude with an analysis of some Buddhist positions on logic, including their views on contradictions, necessity, referential opacity, proof and other issues.

The course will be a series of lectures on these selected topics and does not presuppose a knowledge of Sanskrit or Tibetan.

Photocopies of articles will be distributed.