Buddhist Studies

Spring 2020: Moral Philosophy and Action Theory in Indian Buddhism

Moral Philosophy is the area of philosophy which deals with questions related to how we ought to live our life and to act. Action theory is the philosophical inquiry into the nature of action and the way we come to undertake it. These two themes will stand at the heart of this course, which will explore them in the context of Indian Buddhism, based on selected scriptures, philosophical treatises and scholastic works. Some of the questions that we will discuss are: is there a moral agent in Buddhist thought? What are the ethical and meta-ethical implications of the theory of karma? Does Indian Buddhism express a deterministic world view or does it allow for free will? What is the role of moral sentiments in Buddhist ethics and what is the relation between them and rational thinking?