Admission requirements
Admission to (one of) the programme(s) listed under Part of in the information bar on the right.
Description
This course will provide students with a survey of the different major models of selfhood in the Materialist and Brahminical (Hindu) philosophical traditions of India, the no-self theories found in different generations of Indian Buddhism and the attempts of Jain philosophers to synthesize these opposing frameworks. For approximately a millennium and a half in the classical Indian tradition, fierce and thoroughgoing debates were undertaken, from the most ancient scriptural corpuses of Brahminical, Buddhist and Jain literature all the way through refined scholastic and commentarial philosophical investigations, regarding the fundamental nature of persons. While the long-standing Materialist school argued that the person was nothing more than the psycho-physical body, Brahminical schools insisted that ths self was a spiritual substance of some sort, though their construels of that substance varied widely. Buddhist philosophers in India rejected the notion of any stable selfhood while yet accounting for our conscious experience through causal theories. Jain philosophers, in their turn, tried to create a synthesis between Brahminical and Buddhist positions. This class will investigate the religious, metaphysical, epistemological, psychological and ethical dimensitons of this fascinating debate.
Course objectives
Students will learn the major theories of selfhood, no-self and synthetic self theories of the major classical Indian philosophical traditions.
Students will learn to correctly expound on and critically evaluate the competing theories of selfhood in classical India in in-class group debates. They will also bring critical reflection on these theories through weekly questions that they bring to class discussions.
Students will defend one of several opposed positions from classical Indian theories of selfhood in short essay form in midterm and final examinations.
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
Seminar.
Assessment method
Assessment
Weighing
| Partial Assessment | Weighing |
|---|---|
| Paired Group Presentations | 25 % |
| Final Reseearch Assignment | 65 % |
| Weekly Questions of the Readings brought to and posed in Class Discussion | 10 % |
Resit
Resits will be available for students who have completed all coursework except for the final research paper. The final research paper will be due on the official resit date.
Inspection and feedback
Exam results and feedback will be provided to the students within two workweeks of the exam dates within an exam rubric framework through Brightspace.
Reading list
The course syllabus, with assignments, timetables, course requirements and required readings will be available through the Brightspace course page.
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the information bar on the right.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Huizinga