Buddhism as Philosophy: An Introduction

Review

In my own attempts to teach Asian philosophy to American undergraduates, I have often felt the lack of a book like this one. To my knowledge, no other text leads students to question critically the assertions of Buddhist philosophers and to evaluate the arguments for them. Moreover, existing books often include only a few short selections from original Buddhist texts. This volume provides students with the opportunity to wrestle with the richness and complexity of the primary sources. Mark Siderits [is] one of the most important scholars of Buddhism in the world. No living author has done more to make Buddhist ideas intelligible and relevant to contemporary debates in analytic philosophy. --Charles Goodman, Binghamton UniversityThere has long been a great need for a book like this one. Siderits shows the grace of a wonderful teacher and hits exactly the right tone for his intended audiences. [He] moves easily between the Buddhist schools of thought and Western philosophical traditions. The coverage of schools and problems is, moreover, exactly right. I can think of no other field of such great interest that lacks such an obviously needed resource. Siderits' book fills that gap. --Owen Flanagan, Duke University[Both] philosophical and analytic, this book is superb. . . . The quality of the writing, its elegance and clarity, is very high. Technical vocabulary is used as needed but always carefully explained. --Bryan W. Van Norden, Vassar College

About the Author

In my own attempts to teach Asian philosophy to American undergraduates, I have often felt the lack of a book like this one. To my knowledge, no other text leads students to question critically the assertions of Buddhist philosophers and to evaluate the arguments for them. Moreover, existing books often include only a few short selections from original Buddhist texts. This volume provides students with the opportunity to wrestle with the richness and complexity of the primary sources. Mark Siderits [is] one of the most important scholars of Buddhism in the world. No living author has done more to make Buddhist ideas intelligible and relevant to contemporary debates in analytic philosophy. --Charles Goodman, Binghamton University