Review of Jay L. Garfield, Engaging Buddhism: Why it Matters to Philosophy (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015)

In the first part of this review essay, I indicate the impressive sweep of the book by summarizing briefly each of the ten chapters. In the second part, I consider how well Garfield fulfills his main goal, which is to convince Western philosophers to take Buddhist philosophy seriously and to engage...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal for the academic study of religion
Main Author: Struhl, Karsten J. 1943- (Author)
Format: Electronic Review
Language:English
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Published: Equinox Publ. [2016]
In: Journal for the academic study of religion
Review of:Engaging Buddhism (Oxford [u.a.] : Oxford Univ. Press, 2015) (Struhl, Karsten J.)
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Garfield, Jay L. 1955-, Engaging Buddhism / Buddhism / Philosophy
RelBib Classification:BL Buddhism
Further subjects:B Book review
B Buddhism
B two truths doctrine
B Meditation
B Buddhist Philosophy
B Feminist Theory
B Cross-cultural philosophy
B MADHYAMAKA-Yogacara Buddhism
B theory of knowledge
B Madhyamaka
Online Access: Volltext (doi)
Description
Summary:In the first part of this review essay, I indicate the impressive sweep of the book by summarizing briefly each of the ten chapters. In the second part, I consider how well Garfield fulfills his main goal, which is to convince Western philosophers to take Buddhist philosophy seriously and to engage with its arguments and analysis. I argue that while for the most part he nicely demonstrates how Buddhist philosophical analysis can contribute to Western philosophy, he omits discussion of two important areas of philosophy--feminist philosophy, which has significant affinities with Madhyamaka epistemology and Mahayana ethics, and social and political philosophy, an especially significant omission given the emergence of socially engaged Buddhism. In the third section of the essay, I evaluate Garfield's interpretation of the two truths doctrine. Finally, in the last section, I argue that it is not possible to separate Buddhist philosophy from Buddhist meditation practice.
ISSN:2047-7058
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal for the academic study of religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1558/jasr.31774