The Elusive Mark of the Mental: Philosophy of Mind with Vasubandhu
Extending his interest in Vasubandhu as a fellow of Zukunftsphilologie, Sonam seeks to characterize the phenomenon of “thinking in commentary” in Sanskrit letters. In this capacity, he will explore rival conceptions of philosophical commentary, and conceptions of history, tradition and truth associated with practices of commentary in fifth-century South Asia. In particular, Sonam Kachru will focus on Vasubandhu's exemplary presentation of commentary, in theory and practice, as a distinctive way in which to engage the relationship between history and the kind of truth Vasubandhu believed was only preserved through critically engaged and rationally reconstructed tradition.