“Prolegomena to a Comparative Study of Kashmiri Shaivism and Platonic Gendered Metaphysics”
By Danielle Layne (Gonzaga)
Like Neoplatonism, the philosophy of Kashmiri Shaivism (represented by e.g., Abhinavagupta, (950-1020 ce; Utpaladeva 909-950 ce, and Kṣemarāja 975-1125 CE) is graced with a complex metaphysics, imbued with indigenous mythologies, and rooted in traditions (Platonism and Pythagoreanism, Vedanta, Tantra, and Advaita) that spiral backwards in time. Comparative approaches to the systems of Abhinavagupta and Platonism are exceedingly rare (Just, 2013; earlier Stahl worked on Advaita but not Shaivism).
“Contemplation in Action in Buddhaghosa and Ancient Neoplatonism
By Michael Griffin (University of British Columbia)
Ancient Mediterranean Platonists including Porphyry, Proclus, and Damascius encourage us to act virtuously in the world mediated by the senses, even as we contemplate the mentally mediated Forms described by Plato. They also appear to claim that we cannot attend simultaneously to Forms and sense-objects; but since sense-objects distort our perceptions and motivations, we should strive to attend to Forms.
A hitherto unnoticed parallel in the beginnings of Indian and Greek political philosophy
By Christoph Poetsch (University of Heidelberg)
How to conceptualize society in its core structure? I argue that, in their beginnings,
Indian and Greek philosophy did this in a strikingly similar way. More precisely, I argue
that there is a clear systematic parallel between the varṇa-scheme in Vedic thought and
Plato’s political system in the Republic. The paper therefore provides an analysis of a
“Rasa and Eros: Abhinavagupta’s Rasa Theory Compared to Psyche’s Response to Beauty in Plotinus”
By Michael Wakoff (Shambala Press)
This paper will compare Abhinavagupta's theory of rasa, or aesthetic contemplation, and his notion of camatkāra, or aesthetic relishing, to Plotinus’s descriptions and explanations of the soul’s erotic responses to beauty. Abhinavagupta (ca. 950–1020) was one of the most influential masters of the Pratyabhijna School of nondual Saiva philosophy of Kashmir. He is famous for his synthesis of several schools of Indian tantric practice and philosophy, as well as for his writings on aesthetics, mostly concerning Indian literature and theater.
The Value of Knowledge: Dharmottara’s and Socrates’ Different Protreptic Paths
By Blaze Marpet (Northwestern)
“Pure field and intelligible realm. Plotinus, Iamblichus and Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism”
By Grégoire Langouet (Louvain-la-Neuve University)
In spite of numerous works aiming at showing the presence of "spiritual exercises" in Plotinus (Mazur, Shaw, Bussanich, etc.) inheriting Hadot's reflection, he remains for many the summit of Greek rationalism, where the union and the touching of the One, in a rare ecstatic "mystical" experience, would be difficult to reach and so for us to understand. Against him, Iamblichus and his successors would have reintegrated "religious" elements into Neoplatonism: theurgy being the generic name of these formal practices.