Universität Wien
Warning! The directory is not yet complete and will be amended until the beginning of the term.

180049 PS Nagarjuna: mind, world, and language (2020W)

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 18 - Philosophie
Continuous assessment of course work
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 45 participants
Language: German

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

UPDATE 3 NOVEMBER 2020:
The course will be held FULLY ONLINE until further notice. Links to the BigBlueButton sessions can be found on the Moodle course website.

This course will be taught as a "hybrid" course: Each week, one group of students will be onsite in Hörsaal 2i, the other group will participate online on Moodle (presumably we'll use BigBlueButton); we swap groups from week to week so that every participant will attend an online class every two weeks.

The first session on 13 October will be held online for everyone.

  • Tuesday 13.10. 15:00 - 16:30 Digital
  • Tuesday 20.10. 15:00 - 16:30 Hybride Lehre
    Hörsaal 3B NIG 3.Stock
  • Tuesday 27.10. 15:00 - 16:30 Hybride Lehre
    Hörsaal 3B NIG 3.Stock
  • Tuesday 10.11. 15:00 - 16:30 Digital
  • Tuesday 17.11. 15:00 - 16:30 Digital
  • Tuesday 24.11. 15:00 - 16:30 Digital
  • Thursday 10.12. 08:00 - 09:30 Hybride Lehre
    Hörsaal 3D, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. III/3. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Tuesday 15.12. 15:00 - 16:30 Hybride Lehre
    Hörsaal 3B NIG 3.Stock
  • Tuesday 12.01. 15:00 - 16:30 Hybride Lehre
    Hörsaal 3B NIG 3.Stock
  • Tuesday 19.01. 15:00 - 16:30 Hybride Lehre
    Hörsaal 3B NIG 3.Stock
  • Tuesday 26.01. 15:00 - 16:30 Hybride Lehre
    Hörsaal 3B NIG 3.Stock

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

Nāgārjuna (ca. 150–250 CE) is one of the great philosophers of classical India and the most important Buddhist philosopher after the historical Buddha. His philosophy of the “middle way” (madhyamaka) is foundational for the school of Mahāyāna Buddhism, which spread from India to Tibet, China, Japan other East Asian countries. Thus Nāgārjuna provided the philosophical basis for the central Buddhist notion of „emptiness“ (śūnyatā). For us today, both Nāgārjuna’s philosophical views as well as his argumentative style in his main work, „The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way”(Mūlamadhyamakakārikā) are of great interest.
In this course, we will be most interested in Nāgārjuna‘s metaphysics, philosophy of mind and philosophy of language. We will study „The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way”(Mūlamadhyamakakārikā) in detail, and will draw on passages from his “Dispeller of Disputes” "Vigrahavyāvartaṇī" where useful. We will read the new translation of "Mūlamādhyamakakārikā" from the original Sanskrit into English by Mark Siderits and Shoryu Katsura (Mark Siderits, Shoryu Katsura: "Nāgārjuna's Middle Way. Mūlamādhyamakakārikā". Wisdom Publications 2013)

Assessment and permitted materials

Your course grade will be based on class participation, a short oral presentation, a written glossary entry, and 2 short written assignments.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Maximum of two missed classes (participation is online or in-class – see above), submission of assignments on time.

We will read texts in Englisch and occasionally in German.

Examination topics

Reading list

For a short introduction to Nagarjuna's philosophy:
Westerhoff, Jan Christoph, "Nāgārjuna", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2020 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2020/entries/nagarjuna/>

Main readings in the course:
(1) Mark Siderits, Shoryu Katsura: "Nāgārjuna's Middle Way. Mūlamādhyamakakārikā". Wisdom Publications 2013
(2) Jan Westerhoff: Nāgārjuna's Vigrahavyāvartaṇī. The Dispeller of Disputes". Oxford University Press 2010

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Fr 12.05.2023 00:18