Abstract:This essay examines the unique conception of self (ātman) developed by Utpaladeva, one of the greatest philosophers of the Kashmir Śaiva Recognition (Pratyabhijñā) school, in polemics with Buddhist no-self theorists and rival Hindu schools. The central question that fueled philosophical debate between Hinduism and Buddhism for centuries is whether a continuous stable entity, which is either consciousness itself or serves as the ground of consciousness, is required to sustain all the experienced features of emb… Show more
“…Irina Kuznetsova explains:The Buddhist no‐self theorist insists that the subjective certainty experienced in episodic memory in the “feeling of pastness” issues from an error: past cognition cannot enter our current memory experience in any form whatsoever. The Kashmir‐Śaiva philosophers generalise this concern to the doctrine of no‐self itself in claiming that the no‐self view makes it impossible to explain janasthitih (the human condition).…”
Section: Episodic Memory and Self: The Indian Debatementioning
confidence: 99%
“…The Buddhist cannot properly account for the subjective synthesis experienced in memory, namely the certainty that 'I have experienced this in the past' without which a cognitive event by definition cannot be one of remembering, or the oneness of the objective world, which memory reveals insofar as, provided that my remembered cognition was valid, I can rely on for successful practice in the present. (Kuznetsova, , p. 352)…”
Section: Episodic Memory and Self: The Indian Debatementioning
The paper evaluates a well‐known argument for a self from episodic memories—that remembering that I did something or thought something involves experiencing the identity of my present self with the past doer or thinker. Shaun Nichols argues that although it phenomenologically appears to be the case that we are identical with the past self, no metaphysical conclusion can be drawn from the phenomenology. I draw on literature from contemporary psychology and Buddhist resources to arrive at a more radical conclusion: that there is no phenomenological sense of identity with a past self; the sense of self in episodic memory depends on narrative construction of the self.
“…Irina Kuznetsova explains:The Buddhist no‐self theorist insists that the subjective certainty experienced in episodic memory in the “feeling of pastness” issues from an error: past cognition cannot enter our current memory experience in any form whatsoever. The Kashmir‐Śaiva philosophers generalise this concern to the doctrine of no‐self itself in claiming that the no‐self view makes it impossible to explain janasthitih (the human condition).…”
Section: Episodic Memory and Self: The Indian Debatementioning
confidence: 99%
“…The Buddhist cannot properly account for the subjective synthesis experienced in memory, namely the certainty that 'I have experienced this in the past' without which a cognitive event by definition cannot be one of remembering, or the oneness of the objective world, which memory reveals insofar as, provided that my remembered cognition was valid, I can rely on for successful practice in the present. (Kuznetsova, , p. 352)…”
Section: Episodic Memory and Self: The Indian Debatementioning
The paper evaluates a well‐known argument for a self from episodic memories—that remembering that I did something or thought something involves experiencing the identity of my present self with the past doer or thinker. Shaun Nichols argues that although it phenomenologically appears to be the case that we are identical with the past self, no metaphysical conclusion can be drawn from the phenomenology. I draw on literature from contemporary psychology and Buddhist resources to arrive at a more radical conclusion: that there is no phenomenological sense of identity with a past self; the sense of self in episodic memory depends on narrative construction of the self.
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