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Apoha Workshop [16-23|04|2012]

  • Conception: Helmut Krasser, Parimal Patil, Patrick Mc Allister
  • Organisation: Patrick Mc Allister, Cynthia Peck-Kubaczeck
  • Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • Time: 16th–20th of April, 2012
  • Location: Center for Studies in Asian Cultures and Social Anthropology, Apostelgasse 23, A-1030 Vienna, Austria (http://tinyurl.com/7vcstyx)
  • Programme: apoha workshop 2012 - schedule

Aim

The apoha workshop's aim is to further the understanding of a doctrine central to the epistemological school of Buddhism: the apoha theory, according to which universals can be reduced to differences amongst things.

To this end, the workshop's participants will focus on a passage in the Naiyāyika Jayanta's Nyāyamañjarī, a ca. 9th century Indian text, in which Jayanta first summarizes the Mīmāṃsaka Kumārila's objections to the Buddhist theory of universals (the apoha theory), and then presents the Buddhist defense against this criticism.

What is remarkable about Jayanta's discussion is that it does not simply present the various Buddhist positions, but also seems to suggest a historical perspective for the development of these positions.

The guiding questions of the workshop will be about Jayanta's statement of Kumārila's and the Buddhists' positions, about his reasons for, and the adequacy of, his analysis of the history of theapoha theory, and about the development of the apoha theory in the time after Jayanta.

Participants (provisional list)

  • Eltschinger, Vincent
  • Ruzsa, Ferenc
  • Hugon, Pascale
  • Ishida, Hisataka
  • Kataoka, Kei
  • Katsura, Shoryu
  • Lawrence McCrea
  • Mc Allister, Patrick
  • Miyako Notake
  • Miyuki Nakasuka
  • Tamura, Masaki
  • Ogawa, Hideyo
  • Okada, Kenshô
  • Patil, Parimal
  • Pind, Ole
  • Saito, Akira
  • Tillemans, Tom
  • Watson, Alex