Sutras & Stuff: A Philosophy Podcast

It seems like everyone, from companies to online influencers to fitness coaches, talk about having mantras. But what are mantras, anyway? In this episode, we'll talk about how they compare to birdsong, Tibetan singing bowls, and spells at Hogwarts, as well as some ancient debates about whether they mean anything, and why that matters.   Listen to more episodes of Sutras & Stuff at www.sutrasandstuff.com.   Sounds and Music All music excerpts and soundbites used with an understanding of fair use modification for educational purposes. Theme music by­ https://incompetech.filmmusic.io Kevin MacLeod’s music  Lounge Ambient Music Loop by user orangefree sound, posted to Freesound.com on July 8, 2014. https://freesound.org/people/orangefreesounds/sounds/242080/ Tibetan Chanting by user djgriffin, posted to Freesound.com on February 7, 2006. https://freesound.org/people/djgriffin/sounds/15488/ Sources Documentary Educational Resources. “Altar of Fire – Preview.” YouTube video, posted Sept 19, 2008. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvvI3bIAgVA   Dictionary.com. “The Meanings Behind “Harry Potter” Spells.” July 29, 2019. https://www.dictionary.com/e/s/rowling-spells/   Grimes, Samuel. “Where Did ‘Tibetan’ Singing Bowls Really Come From?” Tricyle. Mar 4, 2020. https://tricycle.org/article/tibetan-singing-bowls/   McGill University. “Do Birdsong and Human Speech Share Biological Roots?” YouTube video, posted Nov 22, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heMy6dlWvkQ   Staal, Frits. “Mantras and Bird Songs.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 105, no. 3 (1985): 549-558.

Just keep swimming!

What do the Metaverse, blue aliens, and airbenders have in common? They’re all based on the idea of the avatar, which goes back thousands of years to the Sanskrit term avatāra. In this episode, we’ll explore what an avatar is and how thinking about these ideas in ancient Hindu and Buddhist contexts can help us think about reality, the divine, and even our survival after death. Sounds and Music All music excerpts and soundbites used with an understanding of fair use modification for educational purposes.  Theme music by Kevin MacLeod’s music https://incompetech.filmmusic.io  Bibliography and Further Reading  Clough, Bradley S. “The Ambivalence of the Hindus: The Buddha as Avatāraṇa of Viṣṇu in the Mahhāpurāṇas and Beyond.” The Journal of Hindu Studies (2021): 1–19. Parrinder, Geoffrey. Avatar and Incarnation: The Divine in Human Form in the World's Religions. Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 1997.  Sheth, Noel. “Hindu Avatāra and Christian Incarnation: A Comparison.” Philosophy East and West 52, no. 1 (2002): 98–125.  Stevenson, Robert W. “The Concept of Avatāra in Ancient and Modern Commentaries on the Bhagavadgītā.” Journal of Studies in the Bhagavad Gītā 3 (1983): 56–86.  Vaidya, Anand. Review of Reality+ by David Chalmers in Philosophy East and West, forthcoming.  Wolfendale, Jessica. “My avatar, my self: Virtual harm and attachment.” Ethics and Information Technology (2007) 9:111–119.  Clips and Sound Effects  Watch Mark Zuckerberg Reveal Next-Gen Avatars With Legs!, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njvp-E8gzqA.  https://freesound.org/s/403005/ by InspectorJ  https://freesound.org/s/326404/ by MorneDelport  Avatar | Official Trailer (HD) | 20th Century FOX, 2009. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PSNL1qE6VY.  “Avatar: The Last Airbender” Theme Song (HQ) | Episode Opening Credits | Nick Animation, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1EnW4kn1kg.  New Books Network. Raj Balkaran, host. “Podcast | Simon Brodbeck, "Divine Descent and the Four World-Ages In….” Accessed February 2, 2023. https://newbooksnetwork.com/divine-descent-and-the-four-world-ages-in-the-mah%C4%81bh%C4%81rata-or-why-does-the-krsna-avat%C4%81ra-inaugurate-the-worst-yuga.  Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies. Ramesh Pattni. “Three Faces of Vedanta: Shankaracharya, Madhvacharya, and Ramanujacharya - YouTube.” Accessed February 3, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlmdRFz1DVs.  New Books Network. Raj Balkaran, host. “Podcast | Sucharita Adluri, "Textual Authority in Classical Indian….” Accessed February 3, 2023. https://newbooksnetwork.com/sucharita-adluri-textual-authority-in-classical-indian-thought-ramanuja-and-the-vishnu-purana-routledge-2014.  David Chalmers: Reality+ from the Matrix to the Metaverse, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ov_BTAsgDU. Little Buddha (1993). Clip via Crescendo on YouTube.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf4e4tbkmCM  Dalai Lama Wants to Be a Machine Avatar, 2011. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JNyUVSoiAE.  The Dalai Lama on Why Reincarnation Is Not Important, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqOMZP6HPP8.  DW Shift. How You Can Become Immortal as a Digital Avatar, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8EiTfOggbI.

Taylor Swift says karma is her boyfriend, and Boy George sings about karma chameleons. In addition to “karma,” there are lots of other Sanskrit terms which have made their way into English: yoga, dharma, mantra, guru, Buddha, swastika, and more. In this season, we’ll focus on one word an episode to get a deeper understanding of what they meant in their original contexts, and how these meanings resonate today. Episodes of Season Four will air the first Friday of every month, beginning January 6, 2023. Subscribe anywhere you can download podcasts. Music & Effects Credits: "Brittle Rille" by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3460-brittle-rille License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ "Karma" by Taylor Swift Excerpts used for educational purposes based on fair use principles Record Scratch by user luffy Link: https://freesound.org/people/luffy/sounds/3536/

In this episode, I talk with Tom Davies, Seymour Reader in Ancient History and Philosophy at the University of Melbourne, about how understanding Indian philosophy in relationship with the rest of the ancient world helps us reflect on what philosophy is, as a human activity, in different cultural contexts. Note: This is the final episode of the regular season, concluding the series of interviews with philosophers who taught Philosophy and Political Thought at Yale-NUS. Not every philosopher participated, but interviews with all those who did are now available as episodes one through ten. But at least one bonus episode is coming later this summer! Further Resources Tom Davies on Academia.edu: https://yale-nus.academia.edu/TomHerculesDavies Ancient Egyptian Philosophy at Philosophy Now: https://philosophynow.org/issues/128/Does_Western_Philosophy_Have_Egyptian_Roots Hannah Arendt: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/arendt/ Music Credits: Brittle Rille by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3460-brittle-rille License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode, I talk with Robin Zheng, Senior Lecturer at the University of Glasgow, about connections between social practices and knowing in premodern Indian philosophy and contemporary feminist philosophy. Further Resources: Robin Zheng’s website: https://www.robin-zheng.me/ Helen Longino: https://philosophy.stanford.edu/people/helen-longino Miranda Fricker: https://www.mirandafricker.com/ Christy Dotson: https://lsa.umich.edu/philosophy/people/faculty/kldotson.html Debating: https://sutrasandstuff.wordpress.com/2020/11/23/debating/ Questions of King Milinda, Book II (Rhys Davids): https://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/sbe35/sbe3504.htm Music Credits: Brittle Rille by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3460-brittle-rille License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode, I talk with Cathay Liu, Senior Lecturer at the National University of Singapore, about philosophical systems and both Indian and European philosophy in the 17th century. Further Resources Rene Descartes https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes/ The Tarkasamgraha at https://archive.org/details/tarka-samgraha-ramkrishna-mission/mode/2up How to Think Like a Nyāya Philosopher, Annambhatta's Primer on Reasoning (Part 1 of 4) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L14Q87r24Is The Craft of Research https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/C/bo23521678.html Music Credits: Brittle Rille by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3460-brittle-rille License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode, I talk with Matthew Walker, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Yale-NUS, about ancient philosophy, therapeutic arguments, reading practices, and the Bhagavad Gita. Further Resources Matt Walker’s website: https://sites.google.com/site/mattwalker2000/home Aristotle on the Uses of Contemplation: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/aristotle-on-the-uses-of-contemplation/14962F5B7153012A256FB48B5A27CCE8 Aristotle https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle/ Zhu Xi https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/zhu-xi/ Emotions in Indian Philosophy https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/concept-emotion-india/ Music Credits: Brittle Rille by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3460-brittle-rille License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode, I talk with Jay Garfield, Professor of Philosophy at Smith College, about the Buddhist philosopher Candrakirti and how teaching Indian philosophy at Yale-NUS impacted his understanding of Western philosophers like Hume. Further Resources Jay Garfield’s website: https://jaygarfield.org/  David Hume: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hume/ The Concealed Influence of Custom (Jay Garfield): https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-concealed-influence-of-custom-9780190933401 Candrakirti and Hume on the Self and the Person (Jay Garfield): https://jaygarfield.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/candrakicc84rti-and-hume-on-self.pdf Madhyamaka philosophy (and Chandrakirti): https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/madhyamaka/ https://iep.utm.edu/madhyamaka-buddhist-philosophy/ Music Credits: Brittle Rille by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3460-brittle-rille License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode, I talk with Christine Tan, Philosophy Lecturer at Yale-NUS College in Singapore, about Indian materialism, skepticism, and overlaps with Chinese Philosophy. Further Resources Christine Tan’s website: https://tanchristineabigail.com/ Guo Xiang: https://iep.utm.edu/guoxiang/ Cārvāka: https://iep.utm.edu/indmat Podcast Episodes on Jayanta Bhatta’s play: Part 1: https://anchor.fm/malcolm-keating/episodes/Episode-9-Much-Ado-about-Religion--Part-1-eovu0c Part 2: https://anchor.fm/malcolm-keating/episodes/Much-Ado-about-Religion-Part-2-epn4fc Music Credits: Brittle Rille by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3460-brittle-rille License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Content note: There's one instance of the "F-word" in English towards the end of the interview. In this episode, I talk with Andrew Bailey, Associate Professor of philosophy at Yale-NUS College in Singapore about the Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna and analytic metaphysics, Gandhi on technology, and Nyaya philosophers on inference. Further Resources Andrew Bailey’s website: https://www.andrewmbailey.com/ Nagarjuna: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nagarjuna/ David Lewis: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/david-lewis/ Peter Van Inwagen: https://philosophy.nd.edu/people/emeritus/peter-van-inwagen/ Gandhi's Hind Swaraj: https://www.mkgandhi.org/ebks/hind_swaraj.pdf Annambhatta lecture (1 of 4): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L14Q87r24Is Music Credits: Brittle Rille by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3460-brittle-rille License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode, I talk with Bryan Van Norden, Professor of philosophy at Vassar College in the United States about how he came to Indian philosophy, what he enjoys about teaching it, as well as connections between ideas about knowing in Indian and Chinese philosophy. Further Resources Bryan Van Norden’s website: http://www.bryanvannorden.com/ “Less Commonly Taught Philosophies” bibliography: http://www.bryanvannorden.com/suggestions-for-further-reading The Questions of King Milinda: My YouTube videos on this text start here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rBqC43PK8Q Mengzi (Mencius) https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mencius/ https://iep.utm.edu/mencius/ Mozi and Mohism https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mohism/ https://iep.utm.edu/mozi/ Music Credits Brittle Rille by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3460-brittle-rille License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

How does a 9th century Nyaya philosopher addresses the intersection of religious conflict and ruling power in India? Are feelings of offense reason to exclude certain religious practices? What lessons can we take from Nyaya philosophers on religious toleration, and are they internally consistent here? To read the whole play, get the Clay Sanskrit Library translation of Much Ado about Religion by Csaba Dezsö, published 2005 by NYU Press. https://nyupress.org/9780814719794/much-ado-about-religion/ Maniacal laugh sound effect from: https://freesound.org/s/367738/

Join our hero Sankarshana as he travels around the kingdom, vanquishing foes...with reason. Part 1 of 2. To read the whole play, get the Clay Sanskrit Library translation of Much Ado about Religion by Csaba Dezsö, published 2005 by NYU Press. https://nyupress.org/9780814719794/much-ado-about-religion/

When is a door not really a door? When it's ajar! That old joke equivocates on two meanings of "ajar" In this episode we look at how equivocation can impact our reasoning, like when we ask, When is a doctor not really a doctor? We explore a few other ways that reasoning can go wrong and force us to lose in a debate. And listen until the end to hear what's planned for Episode 9. Sources: Matthew Dasti and Stephen Phillips, The Nyaya-sutra: Selections with Early Commentaries, Hackett Publishing, 2017. https://www.hackettpublishing.com/new-forthcoming/the-nyaya-sutra Much Ado About Religion adapted from the Csaba Dezsö translation in the Clay Sanskrit Library, New York: NYU Press, 2005. https://nyupress.org/9780814719794/much-ado-about-religion/ Definition of "doctor" from Merriam-Webster Online https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/the-history-of-doctor OED "doctor, n." OED Online. Oxford University Press, December 2020. Web. 20 December 2020. Clips: Good Morning America, December 15, 2020 "Women rally behind Jill Biden after WSJ op-ed asks her to drop 'Dr.'" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJHm2rzMJ-Q%200:49 “Hair-raising hare” (Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies, 1946) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnPRB00xgoQ "Expertise" (Sutras (and stuff) Season 1, Episode 6) https://anchor.fm/dashboard/episode/edfmbj Billy Madison (Universal Pictures, 1995) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec7rCsNFn30 Music: Brittle Rille by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3460-brittle-rille License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Sounds: Monastery Bell https://freesound.org/people/florianreichelt/sounds/440606/ Buzzer https://freesound.org/people/qubodup/sounds/211103/ by qubodup

Quick announcement about Episodes 8 through 10.

When is a reason not a reason? According to Nyaya philosophers, when it's all smoke and no fire. In this episode we'll talk about how reasoning can go wrong when people use "counterfeit reasons," which don't actually support their claims. Music: Brittle Rille by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3460-brittle-rille License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Sources: Matthew Dasti and Stephen Phillips, The Nyaya-sutra: Selections with Early Commentaries, Hackett Publishing, 2017. https://www.hackettpublishing.com/new-forthcoming/the-nyaya-sutra Monty Python and the Holy Grail https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lu5_5Od7WY Ruptly, "USA: "Democrats had this election rigged right from the beginning" Dec 2, 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GI7tRZ28dvg CBS Evening News, "Trump continues to deny election results despite legal losses" Dec 7, 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dvLEScIKkg

If you've ever watched a political debate on TV, you may wonder what the point is. After all, aren't both participants committed to their own viewpoints, and just aiming to win? Why would we ever think that debate is a useful activity. Nyaya philosophers were big proponents of debate, but not the kind of debate you see on network TV. In this episode we'll explore why they think arguments between two opposing parties aren't just a spectacular waste of time. Music: Brittle Rille by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3460-brittle-rille License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Sources: Matthew Dasti and Stephen Phillips, The Nyaya-sutra: Selections with Early Commentaries, Hackett Publishing, 2017. https://www.hackettpublishing.com/new-forthcoming/the-nyaya-sutra Monty Python, "Argument Clinic" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohDB5gbtaEQ President Trump: If Joe Biden wins... (Sept 25, 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK4jZTD1Y-w Trump and the truth: His supporters weigh in (CNN, Dec 16, 2015) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8mJO78dXdc

Doubts can feel paralyzing, but according to the early Nyaya philosopher Uddyotakara, the right kind of doubt is actually useful. In this episode we'll apply his thinking about doubt to the 2020 US presidential election. Music: Brittle Rille by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3460-brittle-rille License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Sources: Matthew Dasti and Stephen Phillips, The Nyaya-sutra: Selections with Early Commentaries, Hackett Publishing, 2017. https://www.hackettpublishing.com/new-forthcoming/the-nyaya-sutra CNBC, September 29, 2020, Donald Trump on Election Integrity, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHysqu3gnSc Washington Post, November 4, 2020, Biden confident he’s on track to win election https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWbuWdwSjmI

Sutras (and stuff) will return next week for a new episode. Apologies for the delay and thanks for your patience!