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This study explores an African conception of Humanism as distinct from the European model and challenges the notion that Humanism is an entirely European construct. I argue that the ideological core of Humanism originated in ancient Kemet, the basis of which frames the African worldview. Furthermore, the theoretical framework provided by the African Humanistic paradigm serves as a model for structuring inter and intra group relations, for tackling notions of difference and issues of fundamentalism, for addressing socio-economic political concerns, and finally, to shift the currents of political rhetoric from one of jouissance to a more progressive and pragmatic stance. / African American Studies

In December of 1896 William James (1842-1910) penned the preface to The Will to Believe & Other Essays in Philosophy, announcing his novel philosophy of radical empiricism. Nearly one hundred and twenty years later, the metaphysical themes of his mature radical empiricist writings (e.g., his 1904-05 writings posthumously published as Essays in Radical Empiricism) continue to dominate the interpretations of the secondary literature. “William James’s Early Radical Empiricism: Psychical Research, Religion, and the ‘Spirit of Inner Tolerance’” offers a revisionist reading that prioritizes the epistemic, moral, and social elements of James’s early radical empiricism in light of his concerns expressed in the 1896 preface. By focusing on a close textual analysis that aims to historically and thematically re-situate James’s radical empiricism within the context of his major and minor work in the 1880s through the late 1890s, I argue for a supplemental interpretation that emphasizes James’s epistemic sensitivity to the plight of the perceived “irrational” other. This project demonstrates that not only is James’s early radical empiricism concerned with epistemological matters of fact and perspective, but also their social and moral implications. It suggests that an alternative narrative is uncovered if we attend to particular historical, philosophical, and religious themes that reveal themselves as focal points of James’s work in the 1890s, particularly in the year 1896. By historicizing his 1890s defense of the epistemic underdog I develop the narrative that James’s early radical empiricism embraces all experience and that this is illustrated by his genuine interest in the point of view of the believer, the marginalized, and the “irrational” other. / Religion

In this philosophical work I explicate Nishida Kitaro's dialectics vis-à-vis Mahayana non-dualistic thought and Hegel's dialectical philosophy, and furthermore in terms of a "chiasmatic chorology." Nishida's work makes ample usage of western philosophical concepts, most notably the terminology of Hegelian dialectics. Nishida himself has admitted affinity to Hegel. And yet content-wise the core of Nishida's thinking seem close to Mahayana Buddhism in its line of thought traceable to the Prajñaparamita sutras. The point of my investigation is to clarify in what regard Nishida's dialectic owes allegiance to Hegel and to Mahayana and wherein it diverges from them. Moreover to what extent is Nishida's appropriation of Hegelian terminology adequate in expressing his thought? The work explicates the distinctive aspects of Nishida's thinking in terms of a "chiasmatic chorology" to emphasize the inter-dimensional and placial complexity of the dialectic. In summary two overarching concerns guide the work: 1) The relation of Nishida's dialectic to its forebears -- Mahayana non-dualism and Hegelian dialectics --; and 2) The distinctness of that dialectic as a "chiasmatic chorology." The work concludes that while Nishida, in his attempt to surmount the dualism of Neo-Kantianism, was led to Hegel's dialectic, the core ideas of his dialectic extend beyond the purview of Hegelianism. Contentwise his dialectic is closer in spirit to Mahayana. While Nishida admits to such commensurability with key Mahayana doctrines, his thought nevertheless ought not to be confined to the doctrinal category of "Buddhist thought" both because of its eclectic nature that brings in elements drawn from western and eastern sources, thereby constituting his work as a "world philosophy"; and because of its creative contributions, such as the formulation of basho and its explication in dialectical terms. What cannot be expressed adequately in terms of Hegelian dialectics is the concrete chiasma of what Nishida calls his "absolute dialectic." Moreover its founding upon the choratic nature of basho not only escapes the grasp of Hegel's self-knowing concept but extends beyond previous formulations within Buddhism. / Religion

This dissertation studies the social and ethical implications of the core Buddhist teaching of Interdependent Co-Arising, which is the logic of Buddhist reasoning and the guiding principle of Buddhist ethics. By appealing to the Nikaya-s, the foundational texts recognized by all Buddhist schools on the one hand, and referencing contemporary socio-economic studies and poststructuralist feminist theories on the other, I revive and theorize about a dynamic sense of Buddhist social ethics, examine its relevance in the contemporary world, and make it acceptable and accessible to the largest number of Buddhists and non-Buddhist scholars and activists. This approach of appropriating non-Buddhist sources in order to make the Buddhist Dhamma relevant in alleviating dukkha is grounded in the Buddha's own teachings and examples. Poststructuralist feminist theories not only offer a much needed critique to the pervasive androcentrism in Buddhist circles, but are also useful in capturing the dynamic complexities that are conveyed by the teaching of Interdependent Co-Arising. In poststructuralist feminist language, any individual subject is a socio-psycho-physical compound shaped and delimited by socio-cultural sedimentations as well as by his/her mental formations, hence the Buddhist teaching of Non-Self. At the same time, it is due to people's repeated actions that socio-cultural sedimentations are formed and dukkha is created and perpetuated in the world. Therefore, in the Buddha's teachings, kamma inevitably has a social dimension and demands attention to the dukkha-producing social norms. Ethics is thus not a set of rigid, inalterable rules, but an ongoing process of striving to be ethical in the midst of ever-changing relations among ever-changing beings. And Sangha, one of the Three Jewels in which all Buddhists take refuge, is not a closed community bound by blood relation or geographical proximity, but an unending effort of building communities and working interconnections with multiple different others. The cessation of dukkha, in this view, is not a static existence where nothing happens, but a dynamic endeavor of working on one's behavioral, emotive, and conceptual transformation in order to alleviate dukkha and continuingly make peace in this world. It requires the participation of everyone entangled in the interconnected web of life. / Religion

Within recent Japanese Buddhist scholarship there is a debate over the interpretation of Karmic causality evidenced in the 75 and 12 fascicle editions of Dogen's Shobogenzo, one salient example being that found in the daishugyo and shinjin inga fascicles on the fox koan from the mumonkon. At issue is whether a Buddhist of great cultivation transcends karmic causality, with the earlier daishugyo promoting a balanced perspective of both "not falling into" and "not obscuring" causality, while shinjin inga instead strongly favors the latter over the former. Traditionalists interpret the apparent reversal in shinjin inga as an introductory simplification to aid novices, while some Critical Buddhists see Dogen as instead returning to the orthodox truth of universal causality. I argue that Dogen philosophically favored the view found in daishugyo, but moved away from it in his later teachings due to misinterpretations made by both senior and novice monks alike. / Religion

There are certain texts and certain ways of writing which when we encounter, we feel we are touching the edge of mystery. What obtains in such texts is the revelation of spirit, the resonance of the holy. The creation of texts that capture and display this sense is an artistic capability. To read receptively in a manner that uncovers this sense of spirit is also an artistic capability. These two approaches to writing and reading form the background of this study. Together they describe what is identified in the study as textual spirituality. The foreground of the study is a consideration of the unique aspects of the textual approach to spirituality with a view to how it can be cultivated and recognized in the academy and so contribute to the clearer organizing of spirituality as a discipline. There are three parts to the study. Part One deals with the challenges of understanding and studying spirituality and spirituality texts in general. It then explores, specifically, the philosophical bases and rationale forwriting spirituality texts as a mode of communicating the sense of spirit. Part Two of the study is demonstrative. It displays an example of the writing of an original spirituality text using the frameworks of the poetic, the narrative and the intuitive. Part Three, following, is largely concerned with those approaches to reading that facilitate the garnering of the sense of spirit from written texts. It then revisits the question of the disciplinary identity of textual spirituality and how it may have a cogent contribution in the academy. Overall, the study is an argument for the possibility of the artistic inscription and transcription of spirit through the agency of written texts. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D. Litt. et Phil. (Religious Studies)

There are certain texts and certain ways of writing which when we encounter, we feel we are touching the edge of mystery. What obtains in such texts is the revelation of spirit, the resonance of the holy. The creation of texts that capture and display this sense is an artistic capability. To read receptively in a manner that uncovers this sense of spirit is also an artistic capability. These two approaches to writing and reading form the background of this study. Together they describe what is identified in the study as textual spirituality. The foreground of the study is a consideration of the unique aspects of the textual approach to spirituality with a view to how it can be cultivated and recognized in the academy and so contribute to the clearer organizing of spirituality as a discipline. There are three parts to the study. Part One deals with the challenges of understanding and studying spirituality and spirituality texts in general. It then explores, specifically, the philosophical bases and rationale forwriting spirituality texts as a mode of communicating the sense of spirit. Part Two of the study is demonstrative. It displays an example of the writing of an original spirituality text using the frameworks of the poetic, the narrative and the intuitive. Part Three, following, is largely concerned with those approaches to reading that facilitate the garnering of the sense of spirit from written texts. It then revisits the question of the disciplinary identity of textual spirituality and how it may have a cogent contribution in the academy. Overall, the study is an argument for the possibility of the artistic inscription and transcription of spirit through the agency of written texts. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D. Litt. et Phil. (Religious Studies)