Syllabus: Philosophy P-334, Spring 2007

Buddhist Philosophy

Jeffrey Grupp, Adjunct Lecturer

Department of History & Philosophy

Indiana University Northwest

www.AbstractAtom.com      

General Information:

This class is about philosophy, not religion:

The title of this class is Buddhist philosophy, not Buddhist religion. Although in the Eastern world there is not such a big difference made between philosophy and religion as there is in the West, in this class I will specifically make an attempt to nevertheless remain entirely philosophical. There will consequently be emphasis on consciousness, God and atheism, multidimensional reality, nirvanic meditation techniques, nirvanic "observation," the philosophy of poverty and political anarchism, string theory and Buddhist similarities in philosophical physics, the philosophy of monkhood, nothingness, mereological nihilism, political nihilism, energy, acosmism, Tibetan extraterrestrials, atomism, to give a few examples. There will be no coverage of religious issues, such as ritual behavior, belief systems, spiritualism, ritual and religious symbols, and so on.

This class is an attack on culture:

Although many anthropological and religious researchers have elegantly shown us that Buddhism is rich in culture (e.g., Tibetan chanting rituals, etc.), in this class I will specifically focus on the philosophical outcomes of Buddhist meditation and ritual—and how those outcomes pervasively lead to Godlessness, panpsychism, nirvana, nothingness, anhedonia, and compassion. Therefore, Buddhist ritual/meditation shows that there is no ritual/meditation; there is only "informal reality," as one Buddhist researcher we will study puts it.

Before you embark on this class, it is important for you to know that Buddhism countercultural: Buddhism is largely against (though there are exceptions) nationalism, supernaturalism, superstition, dogma, wealth, God, spiritualism, war, consumerism, government, and macroscopic reality. Notice that these are all key qualities of what it might be argued the typical American values. Therefore, Buddhist philosophy consists largely of an attack on what the typical American has learned and been taught to find valuable, as they lumber through the semi-conscious, half-alive slumber of a life they have been forced to live in contemporary corporatist America. More simply put, Buddhism is aligned with poetry and science more than, for example, politics and religion. Buddhism is about positivism (in Comte’s sense) and passionate art, rather about superstition and thought control. Buddhism is about inaction and research, rather than about blind duty and waking sleep. And most of all, Buddhism is about consciousness and deep introspection, rather than about non-stop outward looking and never knowing what you really are. It is important that you know that throughout the semester, there will be an assault on much of contemporary American cultural ideas, since Buddhism at its very core does not respect nor recognize superficiality or responsibility.

This class is about Eastern philosophy:

This is not a class about Buddhism in America, for reasons that will be pointed out during the semester. This class is about the deep tradition of Buddhism in Asia, and as it actually exists now and has existed in India, China, Japan, Vietnam, Tibet, Nepal, and Korea.

This class will consist of two sections:

1. Buddhist in Indian and Buddhist Psychology in India, and

2. Buddhism outside of India.

Two thirds of the class will be devoted to 1, and one third to 2. In these two sections, we will consider the two major themes in Buddhism throughout Asia:

a. Buddhist psychology

b. Buddhist theories of reality (this is what I call “Buddhist physics”)

1 and 2, and a and b are all take very different forms in and outside of India, and through the centuries in Asia. But Buddhism throughout the centuries has interesting themes: a tendency to deny that God exists; an affinity for science and the information of physics, and a system of psychology that is largely the inverse of the methods of psychology taught in Western counseling therapy. Studying Buddhism is, in essence, studying how to live ones life, and how to deal with the problems that life presents

Reading:

IMPORTANT NOTE: THERE ARE SEVERAL BOOKS, BUT WE WILL ONLY READ SECTIONS OF EACH, AND THUS THERE IS NO REASON TO GET TOO OVERWHELMED BY THAT FACT THAT THERE ARE SIX BOOKS. ALSO, NONE OF THEM ARE VERY EXPENSIVE, SO YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO GET THESE BOOKS FOR UNDER $100, ESPECIALLY IF YOU LOOK AROUND A LITTLE ON THE INTERNET. USING MANY BOOKS THAT SPECIALIZE ON A SPECIFIC AREA OF BUDDHISM IS THE ONLY ADEQUATE WAY TO COVER BUDDHISM AS THOROUGHLY AS I INTEND TO.

 

Recognizing Reality: Dharmakirti's Philosophy and Its Tibetan Interpretations (S U N Y Series in Buddhist Studies) (Hardcover)
by Georges B. J. Dreyfus

Publisher: State University of New York Press (October 1, 1996)

ISBN: 0791430987

We will read: Pages 1-250

 

"Mereological Nihilism" (Article in Axiomathes)
by Jeffrey Grupp

Publisher: Springer

Can be purchased through this link

We will read: full text

 

"The R-Theory of Time, or Replacement Presentism: The Buddhist Philosophy of Time" (Article in Indian International Journal of Buddhist Studies)
by Jeffrey Grupp

Publisher: Bhikkhu Jagdish Kashy AP Institute of Buddhist and Asian Studies, Aditya-Shyam Trust, 76, Nandnagar, Karaundi, Varanasi, India.

Will be handed out in class.

We will read: we will read about half of this article, and we will primarily focus on the conclusion

 

Zen Therapy

by David Brazier

Paperback: 208 pages

Publisher: Wiley

ISBN: 047119283X

We will read: Part of the text

 

Supersymmetry: Unveiling the Ultimate Laws of Nature (Paperback)
by Gordon Kane

Publisher: Perseus Books Group (July 1, 2001)

ISBN: 0738204897

We will read: pages 1-65

 

An Introduction to Buddhist Psychology (Paperback) [4th edition]
by Padmasiri De Silva

Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan; 4th Edition edition (2005)

ISBN: 1403992452

We will read: full text

 

The Dhammapada (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)
by Anonymous, Juan Mascaro (Translator)

Paperback: 96 pages

Publisher: Penguin Classics; Reprint edition (May 30, 1973)

ISBN: 0140442847

We will read: about half of this text

 

An Introduction to Buddhist Ethics: Foundations, Values and Issues (Introduction to Religion) (Paperback)

Paperback: 498 pages

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

ISBN: 0521556406

We will read: approximately 150 pages

 

Class Handouts: We will also have handouts from the writings of

Buddhist poetry: Kerouac, Grupp, Hui Neng, the Tibetans, and possibly others

The French Buddhist philosopher Hubert Benoit

The ancient Indian philosopher Nagarjuna

The contemporary Buddhist David Brazier

The contemporary American philosopher, Derek Parfit

 

We will also have a film lecture assignment:

UCLA Buddhist Atomism Talk, April 2005, by Jeffrey Grupp. (click to watch.)

Films

We will make a serious attempt to help to understand the material of the class by using short clips of interesting films in the class in order to illustrate ideas in Buddhist philosophy. Some of the films we might watch part of include:

1. KPAX (this film will involve a reading assignment I will give you)
2. Solaris
3. Kalifornia
4. The Truman Show (this film will involve a reading assignment I will give you)
5. Lost Highway
6. Fight Club
7. Sling Blade
8. Lost in Translation
9. The Star Wars Films (esp. Empire Strikes Back, The Clone Wars [vol. 1], Revenge of the Sith)
10. Powder
11. The Matrix films
12. War of the worlds
13. (possible others too)

Website.:

Reading assignments, the syllabus, any handouts, and any other information about the class, is given at my website:

http://www.AbstractAtom.com

(or just abstractatom.com). At this page you will see a “Students” link at the top. Click that and it will take you to the students area, where you can then get to the link that takes you your class information.

Study Guides:

I will put study guides on my website for each section of the class (the two sections of the class are listed under "Class Schedule" below). The study guides can be found on the online syllabus for our class. These are just meant to be a guide to the subjects we will be covering, and these guides are just for your help if you want it. Before each test I will go through the study guide and tell the entire class specifically which topics from the study guide will be on the test, and which are the most important for the test.

Office Hours:

Office hours are held after class in the classroom for approximately 25 minutes, or by appointment.

Tentative Class Schedule

Section 1: Topics: Buddhist Psychology and Physics in India

Tentative Reading Schedule:  TBA

Films that might be discussed: Lost highway, Memento, Waking Life, Sling Blade ,Siddhartha, Little Buddha, Total Recall, The 6th Day, Powder

Click for: STUDY GUIDE 1 (Link coming soon.)

Section 2: Topics: Buddhist Psychology and Physics outside of India

Tentative Reading Schedule:  TBA

Click for: STUDY GUIDE 2 (Link coming soon.)

Films that might be discussed: Memento, Leaving Las Vegas, The Fly, The Cube, Lost Highway, I ♥ Huckabees, Truman Show, Solaris, KPAX, Kalifornia

Grading:

1. 400 points – Midterm
2. 400 points – Final exam
3. 100 points - Film writing assignment (due with the final at the end of the semester)
4. 100 points – Quizzes

Total: 1000 points

There are no make-up tests. If you miss a test, you must present valid, legitimate documentation proving you were absent for reasons beyond your control.

Tests and Quizzes:

At the start of every class, we will have a quiz over the lecture and reading from the class before. These quizzes will help you keep up in the class, and will prevent you from forgetting important material needed to grasp the philosophic ideas of the class.

The manner in which I will grade the quizzes is as follows. All quizzes are grade as C/NC. At the end of the semester I will drop your two lowest quizzes. I will take the remaining number of quizzes and let each one count towards an equal portion of the 100 points that quizzes are worth. For example, if there are 13 quizzes, each quiz counts as  7.7 points.

Please note that if you talk during any of our quizzes through the semester, if you have your notes out, or if you do really anything but stare straight at your own paper, I will freely give you zero credit on a quiz, whenever I feel it is necessary.

All tests will be essay tests. Before each test we will have a review. At the review you can ask any questions you would like, and I will also go over all topics that are fair for me to put on the test.

The final exam is cumulative, but it will have more emphasis on the second half of the semester.

Note: I use the quizzes to take your attendance throughout the semester. For that reason, it may be a very good idea for you to keep your quizzes all semester, in case you need them to justify your attendance in the unlikely event that my records indicate you missed a class when you believe that you did not.

Writing Intensive Course:

This course is writing intensive. This means that there is emphasis put on teaching you to write well, if you don't already write well. I will tell you exactly what I am looking for in your writing, so you will not have to wonder at all about what I am looking for in good writing. There are several keys to writing well, but in general they all involve you being able to merely get your point across to others. In this class, there are no papers you have to write. Instead, you will have essay tests, where the tests are to be written well. So in addition to knowing the material of the class, you will have to write it out coherently, nicely. I will not be so concerned with spelling errors; I will be mostly concerned with how you organize a piece of your writing, and secondly how you use words.

It is important for you to understand that you need not worry much about this writing part of the course. Students often get scared by this, especially if they don’t already have confidence in their writing. When students find out that this class is concerned with your writing, they may feel that they won’t “match up.” But it is important to understand that this writing improvement exercise will be a semi-painless process of my instructing you in improving on your writing skills. In my teaching I have found that whenever I say, “you will be working on your writing this semester,” students shutter in fear, often. But you should offset that by my telling you that I will help you in writing, and I will tell you exactly what I am looking for.

Grade Definitions

[ A ] Outstanding. Work displays thorough mastery of material and genuine engagement with the subject-matter. This grade is reserved for those students who attain the highest levels of excellence in thought and study. 

[ B ] Good. Work displays accurate understanding of the material.

[ C ] Fair. Work displays basic grasp of material, though there may be the occasional misunderstanding or inaccuracy.

[ D ] Marginal. Work displays a grasp of the material adequate for credit, but quality of work indicates lack of effort or aptitude. Tests really quite poor.

[ F ] Unacceptable. Excessive absences, assignments not completed, or assignments unworthy of credit. Tests clearly not at the college level. Cheating or plagiarism will earn an automatic F for the assignment and/or the course.

Attendance:

Please do not arrive late for class. You are expected to attend all class sessions. Getting a good grade depends on having a good attendance record. An absence will be excused when it is due to an illness that is documented by a doctor’s excuse, or because of a death (documented) in the immediate family. If you try to show me a document that is in any way questionable, I will ignore it. (Questionable documents often include, for example, those which do not have your name on them, even though they are doctor's notes.)

If you receive an unexcused absence, the following deduction of points will occur:

1^st unexcused absence — 25 points

2^nd unexcused absence — 25 points

3^rd unexcused absence — 50 points

4^th unexcused absence — 100 points

5^th unexcused absence —200 points

6^th unexcused absence —300 points

(These point deductions are cumulative. For example, in the second unexcused absence you have a total of 50 points taken off your total.)

On your sixth  unexcused absence you will receive a grade of F for the class.

Attendance will be taken each lecture meeting. I will take it by seeing who has taken a quiz. If you arrive late and miss the quiz, you must arrive shortly after class begins in order to receive credit for attendance. If you leave after attendance has been taken but before class is complete, this of course is an unexcused absence.

I will give you one excused absence (but note that this would make you ineligible for the final exam reward--see below). After that all absences are unexcused unless you show that it should be an excused absence. An excused absence is, for example, documented proof that will inform me that, for example, your pet has died, that a relative has died, that you are very sick.  Excuses such as: “my friend was thrown in jail”, “I overslept,” “it was raining,” or “I ran out of gas” are not acceptable. Absences usually reflect that one has a lack of interest to attend lecture meetings; therefore, grades must reflect this. Also, all material that will appear on tests will be thoroughly covered in lectures; it is therefore critical that you not miss class. However, there are reasons that do arise that prevent one from attending lectures. If you have such a reason, you must talk to me about it. In all but the most particular circumstances, any form of undocumented absence is considered an unexcused absence.

Adequate documentation for an absence is a legitimate note from, for example, an employer or doctor, that shows it was impossible for you to attend class. That note has your information on it, and theirs. If you show me inadequate documentation for your absence, I will not argue with you about whether or not you have given me adequate documentation. Rather, I will merely leave it up to you to provide me with appropriate documentation.

Reward:

There will be a small reward for those of you with perfect attendance. Perfect attendance means you have not missed more than a half-hour of a class. Therefore, if you have an excused absence, this means you will not be eligible.

The reward is as follows: your lowest grade on the final (with respect to percentage) will be turned into a full-credit answer.

Class-time:

It is your responsibility to be in class to hear class announcements and information that is needed throughout the semester. Typically information such as this is given at the very start of class, and often it is about things such as test dates and times, the nature of tests, reading assignments, and so on.

Films:

Films are a very productive way to gain much philosophical knowledge fast and easily, as you will see throughout the semester. You might have to go out and rent the films we discuss, or you can get them at the public library.

We will be discussing various philosophical films in the class in significant detail. It may help you to view these films very carefully, more than once if needed, in order to apply your philosophical knowledge you will acquire in the class to these films.

The films we will possibly focus on (depending on time) in our class lectures are: The Truman Show, The Matrix, Total Recall, Being John Malcovich, Memento, Leaving Las Vegas, Crimes and Misdemeanors, The Fly, The Cube, Cube2: Hypercube, Lost Highway, eXistenZ, Thin Red Line, among others.

Lecture, Discussion, and Questions:

            The subject matter in this course will generate much discussion. This is welcomed and expected, and you should feel free to take advantage of this as I see it as often the most beneficial and productive part of a student’s learning. If discussion gets too far off track or too drawn out, I will end such discussion that when appropriate.

            It is very important in a class of this nature that you interrupt lecture or discussion and ask questions every time there is a subject or issue in lecture or discussion that you do not understand. I frown upon those who sit in their seats not understanding the material and yet unwilling to ask for clarification. This usually only leads to frustration during lecture meetings and worse, it usually leads to poor test scores. So it is your responsibility as a student to ask questions as you feel you need to. Students should also note that it is usually the case that, the more basic a question is the better. Therefore, questions such as: What is science? What is God? What is technology? What is nature? Or What is Metaphysics? are extremely important appropriate and welcomed in this class. In summary, this class will teach you not to ask the “right questions,” (i.e., those that are seen as appropriate and ) but to develop an urge within you to ask the questions that you are truly interested in, regardless of who might say it is the right question or the wrong question.

Important Note: You are responsible for making yourself aware of, and for understanding the policies and procedures in the Undergraduate Catalog that pertain to Academic Integrity. These policies include cheating, fabrication, falsification and forgery, multiple submission, plagiarism, complicity and computer misuse. If there is reason to believe you have been involved in academic dishonesty, you will be referred to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs. You will be given the opportunity to review the charge(s). If you believe you are not responsible, you will have the opportunity for a hearing. You should consult with me if you are uncertain about an issue of academic honesty prior to the submission of an assignment or test.