[Buddha-l] New publication: A Buddhist Theory of Moral Objectivity

[Piya Tan]

Dear Upeksacitta,

I am a unsalaried fulltime Dharma teacher, who specializes in early Buddhism
and has an interest in comparative Buddhism. I am supported by dana through
my teachings. I would love to read the PDF of your work, "A Buddhist Theoriy
of Moral Objectivity."

I have just begun my googlepages where my annotated translations of the Pali
Suttas are posted and freely downloable at

dharmafarer.googlepages.com.

Piya Tan

On 8/22/06, Upeksacitta at aol.com <Upeksacitta at aol.com> wrote:
>
>  "A Buddhist Theory of Moral Objectivity" by Upeksacitta (Robert Ellis) is
> now available.
>
> After five years of trying to get established publishers to publish this
> book, I have decided to go ahead with a small-scale private printing and
> sell it myself on a dana basis. Although most people who have read it have
> praised the content of the book, I have been unable to achieve conventional
> publication primarily because of its length (296,000 words) and because,
> whilst academic, it does not fit easily into established categories of
> academic discourse. It is neither analytic nor continental philosophy but
> questions the assumptions of both, and it is not Buddhist Studies because it
> is not a scholarly examination of the Buddhist tradition: rather it is
> philosophy done in a Buddhist way, starting with some core principles
> (non-dualism and the Middle Way) and drawing out their implications, without
> any appeal to the authority of the Buddhist tradition.
>
> The book was originally my Ph.D. thesis, written at Lancaster University
> 1997-2001, though it has much wider scope than most Ph.D. theses, is far
> longer, and from the beginning was directed at a wider audience. Although
> primarily focussed on ethics, in order to fundamentally re-assess Western
> attitudes to ethics from a Middle Way perspective I have found it necessary
> to examine many other related issues (especially of epistemology, critical
> metaphysics and psychology) on which approaches to ethics and its
> objectivity depend. Hence the length and depth of the book. My central claim
> is that the Middle Way is the key to an entirely new understanding of
> objectivity which has not been recognised in the West (and not always in the
> Buddhist tradition, either).
>
> The book consists of two parts, the first being a critique of all the main
> Western approaches to ethics from a Buddhist perspective, and the second
> being a more positive account of how non-dualism and the Middle Way can
> provide the key to moral objectivity. Most of the book is primarily directed
> at a generally philosophical academic audience, but with
> philosophically-minded Buddhists also in mind. An appendix offers
> clarification of the relationship of the argument to the Buddhist tradition.
>
> You can obtain the book from me for £20 (UK) or equivalent in other
> currencies, plus postage and packing. I am also offering the book on a dana
> basis to anyone who genuinely wants to read it but cannot afford this. If
> you are interested, please e-mail me on upeksacitta at aol.com .If you feel
> you want to sample the book more before buying it, I am also happy to send
> you a pdf (Adobe Acrobat) version of the text by email (I am expecting this
> to increase rather than decrease my sales, as most people won't want to read
> it all on screen!).
>
> Upeksacitta (Robert Ellis)
>
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