•  43
    Duty and Sacrifice: A Logical Analysis of the Mīmāṃsā Theory of Vedic Injunctions
    with Andrew Ollett and Matteo Pascucci
    History and Philosophy of Logic 40 (4): 323-354. 2019.
    The Mīmāṃsā school of Indian philosophy has for its main purpose the interpretation of injunctions that are found in a set of sacred texts, the Vedas. In their works, Mīmāṃsā authors provide some of the most detailed and systematic examinations available anywhere of statements with a deontic force; however, their considerations have generally not been registered outside of Indological scholarship. In the present article we analyze the Mīmāṃsā theory of Vedic injunctions from a logical and philos…Read more
  •  6
    This study focuses on the devices implemented in classical Indian texts on ritual and language in order to develop a structure of rules in an economic and systematic way. These devices presuppose a spatial approach to ritual and language, one which deals for instance with absences as substitutions within a pre-existing grid, and not as temporal disappearances. In this way, the study reveals a key feature of some among the most influential schools of Indian thought. The sources are Kalpasūtra, V…Read more
  •  9
    This paper aims to offer a preliminary explication of the role of and the relation between mental states, action, and blame in Medhātithi’s commentary on the most influential juridical text of the Sanskrit world – the jurisprudential text attributed to Manu. In defining what it means to act and what constitutes engaging in intentional and unintentional action, this paper makes three claims. First, enjoined actions (e.g., sacrifices) require particular mental states to be performed. Notwithstandi…Read more
  •  14
    Deontic Paradoxes in Mīmāṃsā Logics: There and Back Again
    with Kees van Berkel, Agata Ciabattoni, Francesca Gulisano, and Maya Olszewski
    Journal of Logic, Language and Information 32 (1): 19-62. 2023.
    Centered around the analysis of the prescriptive portion of the Vedas, the Sanskrit philosophical school of Mīmāṃsā provides a treasure trove of normative investigations. We focus on the leading Mīmāṃsā authors Prabhākara, Kumārila and Maṇḍana, and discuss three modal logics that formalize their deontic theories. In the first part of this paper, we use logic to analyze, compare and clarify the various solutions to the _śyena_ controversy, a two-thousand-year-old problem arising from seemingly co…Read more
  •  19
    The article offers an overview of the deontic theory developed by the philosophical school of Mīmāṃsā, which is, and has been since the last centuries BCE, the main source of normative concepts in Sanskrit thought. Thus, the Mīmāṃsā deontics is interesting for any historian of philosophy and constitutes a thought-provoking occasion to rethink deontic concepts, taking advantage of centuries of systematic reflections on these topics. Some comparison with notions currently used in Euro-American nor…Read more
  •  15
    Veṅkaṭanātha
    Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2016.
    Veṅkaṭanātha Veṅkaṭanātha was an Indian polymath who wrote philosophical as well as religious and poetical works in several languages, including Sanskrit, Maṇipravāḷa—a Sanskritised form of literary Tamil—and Tamil. He is traditionally dated to 1269-1370, but as explained by Neevel “the lifespans of … Continue reading Veṅkaṭanātha →
  •  20
    Alternative Theisms
    The Philosophers' Magazine 82 94-98. 2018.
  •  16
    Introduction
    with Cathy Cantwell
    Buddhist Studies Review 33 (1-2): 1-7. 2017.
    The bulk of the present volume focuses on the reuse of Buddhist texts. The Introduction gives some background to the topic of textual reuse in general and discusses the reasons for undertaking the analysis of textual reuse within Buddhist texts. It then elaborates on the extent of its pervasiveness within Buddhist literature through the example of Tibetan ritual texts. Lastly, it takes stock of the articles on text-reuse and discusses some general lines of interpretation of the phenomenon of tex…Read more
  •  13
    Ve?ka?an?tha was the most important systematiser of the Vi?i???dvaita school of Ved?nta. This article describes his use of Buddhist sources and shows how Ve?ka?an?tha reused Buddhist texts to a much more significant extent than his predecessors Y?muna and R?m?nuja. The reused text-passages come mostly from the epistemological school of Buddhist philosophy but there are important exceptions, attesting that Ve?ka?an?tha was also aware of Buddhist schools such as the Vaibh??ikas, of whom only littl…Read more
  •  19
    Rethinking Classical Dialectical Traditions
    Culture and Dialogue 5 (2): 173-209. 2017.
  •  29
    Understanding Prescriptive Texts: Rules and Logic as Elaborated by the Mīmāṃsā School
    with Agata Ciabattoni, Francesco A. Genco, and Björn Lellmann
    Journal of World Philosophies 2 (1): 47-66. 2017.
    The Mīmā ṃ sā school of Indian philosophy elaborated complex ways of interpreting the prescriptive portions of the Vedic sacred texts. The present article is the result of the collaboration of a group of scholars of logic, computer science, European philosophy and Indian philosophy and aims at the individuation and analysis of the deontic system which is applied but never explicitly discussed in Mīmā ṃ sā texts. The article outlines the basic distinction between three sorts of principles —hermen…Read more
  •  47
    How Do We Gather Knowledge Through Language?
    Journal of World Philosophies 2 (1): 42-46. 2017.
    The present issue of Journal of World Philosophies will host a series of papers discussing the phenomenon of linguistic communication2 from a philosophical point of view and from a cross-cultural perspective. The papers’ authors discussed the topic together with some other scholars in a workshop in Athens, 2015. The contributions are organized around the following four issues: 1. What do we know? 2. How (through which instrument of knowledge) do we know it? 3. What is the role of language as a m…Read more
  •  18
    The Purpose of the Mīmāṃsānyāyasaṅgraha and Its TranslationSome of the criticism frequently seen in book reviews is due to the reviewer's desire to have read something else. Indeed, I do not wish to judge James Benson's Mīmāṃsānyāyasaṅgraha: A Compendium on the Principles of Mīmāṃsā from the standpoint of what I would have written if I had been in his place. And thus, I will start by outlining his work and the goals he had in mind.The central part of this extensive book consists in a critical ed…Read more
  • Review of Lars Göhler, Reflexion und Ritual in der Pūrvamīmād msā (review)
    Indo-Iranian Journal 57 (1--2): 166--174. 2014.
  • Proposals for the study of quotations in Indian philosophical texts
    Religions in South Asia 6 (2): 161--189. 2012.
  •  4
    The book is an introduction to key concepts of Indian Philosophy, seen from the perspective of the influential school of Pr?bh?kara M?m??s? (flourished from the 7th until the 20th c. AD). It includes the edition and translation of R?m?nuj?c?rya's ??straprameyapariccheda.
  •  34
    The authors make an attempt to comparatively analyse some stances of the Old Indian philosophy of language, exemplified by the Medieval Indian author Jayanta, along with the Western tradition of the analytical philosophy of language, and to highlight the differences as well as the similarities. The main focus is on Jayanta's discussion of the meaning vs. reference problem.
  • Introduction
    with Philipp André Maas
    In Elisa Freschi & Philipp André Maas (eds.), Adaptive Reuse of Texts, Ideas and Images in Classical India, Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft. Harrassowitz. forthcoming.