[Buddha-l] book: _Personal Identity and Buddhist Philosophy_

[Richard Hayes]

On Tuesday 17 July 2007 13:36, Mr Michael A. La Torra wrote:

> Mark Siderits. _Personal Identity and Buddhist Philosophy: Empty
> Persons_. Aldershot and Burlington: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2003.
> xvii + 231 pp. Notes, bibliography, index. $79.95 (cloth), ISBN
> 0-7546-3473-6.
>
> This looks interesting, but it's a little pricey for me to buy. Anyone
> here read it?

I used several chapters of it in a combined graduate and upper-level 
undergraduate course in the philosophy department. I think it is an excellent 
and thought-provoking study of an important issue in Buddhist philosophy. The 
upper-level undergraduate students found it difficult, because it does 
presuppose quite a bit of familiarity with both Western and Indian 
philosophy. The graduate students liked it quite a bit, although I think it's 
accurate to report that the consensus was that it is a little overly 
technical for what it has to say. 

The book has attracted a lot of attention. The American Philosophical 
Association devoted a newsletter to it in the Fall of 2006, with reflections 
by Jay Garfield, John Taber and Dan Arnold. A review of the book appeared 
just today on the H-BUDDHISM academic discussion list. I think it will prove 
to be one of the really important books in Buddhist philosophy of this 
generation. Siderits is a very capable thinker and a good textual scholar, 
and he has a very broad education in philosophical issues. He is one of a 
growing handful of people now taking Asian philosophy quite seriously, by 
which I mean he thinks Asian philosophers have something important to 
contribute to the field of philosophy in general, and he thinks Asian 
thinkers are important enough to be read with a tough critical mind.

In general I'd say Siderits's book is very much worth reading if one is a 
philosopher and likes reading and thinking about fairly difficult material. 
If one is looking for insights that might be useful in one's Buddhist 
meditation practice, it might be disappointing. So I leave it to you to 
decide whether it's worth $79.95 to you. (I doubt that any of the mythical 
creatures that Curt is always warning us about, namely, those lazy Protestant 
Buddhists who want nothing but a quick effortless giggle and a Club Med 
cruise to Nirvana and back, would be interested in this book.)

-- 
Richard P. Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico
http://www.unm.edu/~rhayes