ABSTRACT

With a focus on Asian traditions, this book examines varieties of thought and self-transformative practice that do not fit neatly on one side or another of the standard Western division between philosophy and religion.

It contains chapters by experts on Buddhist, Confucian, Taoist, Hindu and Jain philosophies, as well as ancient Greek philosophy and recent contemplative and spiritual movements. The volume also problematizes the notion of a Western philosophical canon distinguished by rationality in contrast to a religious Eastern "other". These original essays creatively lay the groundwork needed to rethink dominant historical and conceptual categories from a wider perspective to arrive at a deeper, more plural and global understanding of the diverse nature of both philosophy and religion.

The volume will be of keen interest to scholars and students in the Philosophy of Religion, Asian and Comparative Philosophy and Religious Studies.

chapter 1|12 pages

Introduction

chapter 2|23 pages

Aspiration, conviction, and serene joy

Faith and reason in Indian Buddhist literature on the path 1

chapter 3|29 pages

Faith and/or/as enlightenment

Rethinking religion from the perspective of Japanese Buddhism

chapter 4|11 pages

Faith and its derivatives

Knowledge, conduct and liberation in Jainism

chapter 5|30 pages

Enlightening the unEnlightened

The exclusion of Advaita Vedānta from the Western philosophical canon 1

chapter 6|19 pages

Ruism and the category of religion

Or, what to do about the Confucians? 1

chapter 8|30 pages

Medium of many messages

Roles of aesthetic discourse in religion and philosophy

chapter 9|16 pages

Trusting the daimonion

Faith and reason in the case of Socrates and beyond

chapter 12|18 pages

Between faith and reason

Feminist contemplative pedagogy

chapter 13|19 pages

An immanent world of wonder

Nonreligion and emerging worldviews