Global Philosophy Research Interest Group Talk (Amod Sandhya Lele, Northeastern)

The Global Philosophy Research Interest Group is delighted to welcome as guest speaker Amod Sandhya Lele, the associate director of the Ethics Institute at Northeastern University who also runs the Love of All Wisdom Substack newsletter and co-authors the Indian Philosophy Blog. They have taught in the Philosophy Department at Boston University and the Religion Departments at Colorado College and Stonehill College, and have published in journals including the Journal of Buddhist Ethics, Philosophy East and West, and Asian Studies Review.

Talk Title

Śāntideva’s Opposition to Anger: A Defence for the Current Context

Talk Abstract

This presentation applies the critique of anger made by Śāntideva, the eighth-century Indian Mahāyāna Buddhist philosopher, to a contemporary context of racial and gender injustice. Supplementing Śāntideva’s critique with ideas from Martin Luther King Jr. and Martha Nussbaum, the presentation points out the ways in which anger can harm the angry person as well as others. It responds to several objections made on anger’s behalf, several of which fail to persuade, and others of which require only qualification, not rejection, of the thesis that we human beings should generally avoid anger.

The Global Philosophy Research Interest Group explores the benefits of drawing on diverse traditions of thought in approaching philosophical questions. These include novel insights into familiar problems, new questions and research directions, and fresh methodologies. We work to deprovincialize and decolonize all aspects of philosophy in the academy. The group currently has strengths in Sanskrit philosophy, and Chinese philosophy, Indian philosophy in English, and classical Islamic philosophy.