PHIL 1135

What are the limits of human experience? What is the ultimate ground of existence? In what does self-realization consist, and what path or paths are best followed in pursuit of self-realization? These central questions of philosophy have received distinctive answers within the various traditions of Asian philosophy. In this course we will be exploring the variety of responses to these questions given by Asian philosophers, and particularly the responses of the Vedantists, the early Buddhists, the Taoists, Confucians, and Zen Buddhists. Emphasis will be on the doctrines of Universal Self, no-self, the Way, humanistic wisdom, and enlightenment, and on the relevance of these to contemporary philosophical, ethical, environmental, and political concerns.