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On hating the real world
A few months ago I was having a conversation with a friend of mine who is particularly given to pithy epigrams. We were discussing the Stata Center: a brightly colourful building on the MIT campus,...
View ArticleAlien conservatism
I’ve written a fair bit lately about conservatism, of both literal and innovative (reactionary) varieties. There is much I find admirable and valuable in conservative views; but I would be quite...
View ArticleWhy you can read my dissertation on this site
It was about five and a half years ago now that my dissertation on Śāntideva was approved and I could receive my PhD. Most doctoral graduates try very hard to turn their dissertations into a published...
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Coming to like modern India
This post will be a little less philosophical, strictly speaking at least, than is usual here. Readers have found my autobiographical explorations interesting in the past, and I hope this will be...
View ArticleWhy the study of religion shouldn’t be about studying religion
My undergraduate degree was in sociology and geography, with a focus on urban studies. That world often seems far away from the cross-cultural philosophy that drives me now – but not always. Since...
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The power of a beautiful temple
We think these days a lot about Buddhist ethics, which often involves some thought about Buddhist politics. We tend to think a lot less about Buddhist aesthetics. Now there’s an obvious explanation...
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The saksit of Notre-Dame
Basilique Notre-Dame. Photo by David Iliff. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0 Basilique Notre-Dame – one of the most magnificent cathedrals in North America – was the first work of architecture to leave a real...
View ArticleLessons from a favourite teacher
This semester I’m teaching Indian philosophy and spent a lot of time thinking about pedagogy. It’s hard for me to do that for very long without thinking about the best teacher I ever had, Warwick...
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Kammatic and nibbanic Buddhism
Last winter my wife and I made a wonderful trip to Sri Lanka. Before I say anything about the trip’s philosophical implications, I just want to note that you should go there if you have the money and...
View ArticleLiterature as representation and rasa
Sumana Roy, a professor of literature at Ashoka University near Delhi, wrote a wonderful recent essay in the Chronicle of Higher Education identifying significant problems with the way Indian...
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