Philosophy (S 9805)

The sub-project "Philosophy: Madhyamaka and Language Theory" is made up of two projects that deal primarily with Buddhist philosophical works and the theories presented within them. The Madhyamaka side of the sub-project takes as its textual focus the Prasannapada, a Madhyamaka work composed in the seventh century and translated into Tibetan in Srinagar, Kashmir, in the eleventh century. The Prasannapada had a great impact on the Buddhist philosophy discussed and debated in the monasteries of the wider Himalayan region. In reliance on both Sanskrit manuscripts of the work and the editions of the Tibetan translation, various chapters of the Prasannapada will be critically edited and translated, and philological and philosophical problems will be analyzed. The Language Theory side of the sub-project takes as its textual starting point Ratnakirti's Anyapohasiddhi, written in the eleventh century, in order to examine the Buddhist theory of language (anyapoha) and the concept of universals (samanya). The Anyapohasiddhi will be critically edited and translated, and Ratnakirti's theory of language will be elucidated and discussed within the larger scope of the development of the theory. On the basis of the results, the incorporation of the theory of language and universals into the syncretistic Kashmirian Saiva tradition will be examined.

The sub-project further serves as a point of reference for other sub-projects requiring information on philosophical schools, theories and terminology as it relates to and is required by their textual, inscriptional and art-historical investigations.