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Wang Bi's Laozi weizhi lüeli (老子微指例略) is, along with Wang Bi's famous commentary on the Laozi/Dao... more Wang Bi's Laozi weizhi lüeli (老子微指例略) is, along with Wang Bi's famous commentary on the Laozi/Daodejing, an attempt to unpack the Laozi's meaning. This is a translation of the first part (A1) of the Laozi weizhi lüeli, based on Rudolf G. Wagner's critical edition of the Chinese text.
Papers by Joseph Dowd
Asian Philosophy, Sep 30, 2021
ABSTRACT The Pātañjalayogaśāstra (PYŚ) is typically understood to define yoga as thought-suppress... more ABSTRACT The Pātañjalayogaśāstra (PYŚ) is typically understood to define yoga as thought-suppression. In several publications, Ian Whicher has sought to avoid the conclusion that the PYŚ endorses thought-suppression by proposing that the PYŚ’s definition of yoga refers not to thought-suppression but to liberation from the puruṣa’s misidentification with the mind. I argue that Whicher’s proposal is unsuccessful because the PYŚ portrays thought-suppression as necessary for this liberation.
The Mahabharata, an Indian epic poem, describes a legendary war between two sides of a royal fami... more The Mahabharata, an Indian epic poem, describes a legendary war between two sides of a royal family. The epic's plot involves numerous moral dilemmas that have intrigued and perplexed scholars of Indian literature. Many of these dilemmas revolve around a character named Krsna. Krsna is a divine incarnation and a self-proclaimed upholder of dharma, a system of social and religious duties central to Hindu ethics. Yet, during the war, Krsna repeatedly encourages his allies to use tactics that violate dharma. In this paper, I try to make sense of Krsna's actions by analyzing them in terms of categories from Western moral philosophy. I show that Krsna seems to embrace an ethical approach called consequentialism, but that his version of consequentialism differs from Western theories of consequentialism by seeing adherence to dharma as an intrinsic good.
Asian Philosophy, 2021
The Pātañjalayogaśāstra (PYŚ) is typically understood to define yoga as thought-suppression. In s... more The Pātañjalayogaśāstra (PYŚ) is typically understood to define yoga as thought-suppression. In several publications, Ian Whicher has sought to avoid the conclusion that the PYŚ endorses thought-suppression by proposing that the PYŚ’s definition of yoga refers not to thought-suppression but to liberation from the puruṣa’s misidentification with the mind. I argue that Whicher’s proposal is unsuccessful because the PYŚ portrays thought-suppression as necessary for this liberation.
Ancient Philosophy, 2015
Aristotle seems to endorse three inconsistent claims: (1) a living thing's soul is its form; (2) ... more Aristotle seems to endorse three inconsistent claims: (1) a living thing's soul is its form; (2) an object's matter does not have the object's form essentially; (3) a living thing's matter is essentially ensouled. This paper focuses on the third claim, arguing that Aristotle does not endorse it.
American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, 2015
To defend the idea of everlasting punishment in hell, some philosophers of religion have suggeste... more To defend the idea of everlasting punishment in hell, some philosophers of religion have suggested that hell's punishment lasts forever because the damned continue to sin forever. This suggestion raises a further question: Why would a being keep sinning forever? In this paper, I examine Thomas Aquinas's attempt to explain why demons keep sinning forever. According to Aquinas, demons cannot stop sinning because they cannot revise the judgment that caused them to sin. At the end of the paper, I argue that if we accept retributivism, then we have good reasons to think creatures such as Aquinas's demons would deserve everlasting punishment.
Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy, 2022
In his Laozi Commentary (老子注) and Structure of the Laozi's Subtle Pointers (老子微指例略), Wang Bi seem... more In his Laozi Commentary (老子注) and Structure of the Laozi's Subtle Pointers (老子微指例略), Wang Bi seems to identify the Dao with "absence" or "nothingness" (wu). Despite this identification, some modern commentators regard Wang Bi's Dao as a being. Other commentators deny that the Dao is a being but, nonetheless, seem to regard it as a reality of some kind. In contrast, I propose that Wang Bi's Dao is literal absence and that we need not reify this absence in any way. Wang Bi's descriptions of the Dao can be understood as metaphorical descriptions of mere absence. To support this proposal, I present an interpretation of Wang Bi's Dao and then apply this interpretation to the first section of Wang Bi's Laozi commentary and to the first section of the Structure of the Laozi's Subtle Pointers.
The paper uploaded here differs from the final published paper. For a view-only version of the published paper, follow this link: https://rdcu.be/cLiXd
Praxis, 2011
The Mahabharata, an Indian epic poem, describes a legendary war between two sides of a royal fami... more The Mahabharata, an Indian epic poem, describes a legendary war between two sides of a royal family. The epic's plot involves numerous moral dilemmas that have intrigued and perplexed scholars of Indian literature. Many of these dilemmas revolve around a character named Krsna. Krsna is a divine incarnation and a self-proclaimed upholder of dharma, a system of social and religious duties central to Hindu ethics. Yet, during the war, Krsna repeatedly encourages his allies to use tactics that violate dharma. In this paper, I try to make sense of Krsna’s actions by analyzing them in terms of categories from Western moral philosophy. I show that Krsna seems to embrace an ethical approach called consequentialism, but that his version of consequentialism differs from Western theories of consequentialism by seeing adherence to dharma as an intrinsic good.
Book Reviews by Joseph Dowd
Ancient Philosophy, 2016
A review of Eli Diamond's Mortal Imitations of Divine Life: The Nature of the Soul in Aristotle's... more A review of Eli Diamond's Mortal Imitations of Divine Life: The Nature of the Soul in Aristotle's De Anima.
Wang Bi's Laozi weizhi lüeli (老子微指例略) is, along with Wang Bi's famous commentary on the Laozi/Dao... more Wang Bi's Laozi weizhi lüeli (老子微指例略) is, along with Wang Bi's famous commentary on the Laozi/Daodejing, an attempt to unpack the Laozi's meaning. This is a translation of the first part (A1) of the Laozi weizhi lüeli, based on Rudolf G. Wagner's critical edition of the Chinese text.
Asian Philosophy, Sep 30, 2021
ABSTRACT The Pātañjalayogaśāstra (PYŚ) is typically understood to define yoga as thought-suppress... more ABSTRACT The Pātañjalayogaśāstra (PYŚ) is typically understood to define yoga as thought-suppression. In several publications, Ian Whicher has sought to avoid the conclusion that the PYŚ endorses thought-suppression by proposing that the PYŚ’s definition of yoga refers not to thought-suppression but to liberation from the puruṣa’s misidentification with the mind. I argue that Whicher’s proposal is unsuccessful because the PYŚ portrays thought-suppression as necessary for this liberation.
The Mahabharata, an Indian epic poem, describes a legendary war between two sides of a royal fami... more The Mahabharata, an Indian epic poem, describes a legendary war between two sides of a royal family. The epic's plot involves numerous moral dilemmas that have intrigued and perplexed scholars of Indian literature. Many of these dilemmas revolve around a character named Krsna. Krsna is a divine incarnation and a self-proclaimed upholder of dharma, a system of social and religious duties central to Hindu ethics. Yet, during the war, Krsna repeatedly encourages his allies to use tactics that violate dharma. In this paper, I try to make sense of Krsna's actions by analyzing them in terms of categories from Western moral philosophy. I show that Krsna seems to embrace an ethical approach called consequentialism, but that his version of consequentialism differs from Western theories of consequentialism by seeing adherence to dharma as an intrinsic good.
Asian Philosophy, 2021
The Pātañjalayogaśāstra (PYŚ) is typically understood to define yoga as thought-suppression. In s... more The Pātañjalayogaśāstra (PYŚ) is typically understood to define yoga as thought-suppression. In several publications, Ian Whicher has sought to avoid the conclusion that the PYŚ endorses thought-suppression by proposing that the PYŚ’s definition of yoga refers not to thought-suppression but to liberation from the puruṣa’s misidentification with the mind. I argue that Whicher’s proposal is unsuccessful because the PYŚ portrays thought-suppression as necessary for this liberation.
Ancient Philosophy, 2015
Aristotle seems to endorse three inconsistent claims: (1) a living thing's soul is its form; (2) ... more Aristotle seems to endorse three inconsistent claims: (1) a living thing's soul is its form; (2) an object's matter does not have the object's form essentially; (3) a living thing's matter is essentially ensouled. This paper focuses on the third claim, arguing that Aristotle does not endorse it.
American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, 2015
To defend the idea of everlasting punishment in hell, some philosophers of religion have suggeste... more To defend the idea of everlasting punishment in hell, some philosophers of religion have suggested that hell's punishment lasts forever because the damned continue to sin forever. This suggestion raises a further question: Why would a being keep sinning forever? In this paper, I examine Thomas Aquinas's attempt to explain why demons keep sinning forever. According to Aquinas, demons cannot stop sinning because they cannot revise the judgment that caused them to sin. At the end of the paper, I argue that if we accept retributivism, then we have good reasons to think creatures such as Aquinas's demons would deserve everlasting punishment.
Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy, 2022
In his Laozi Commentary (老子注) and Structure of the Laozi's Subtle Pointers (老子微指例略), Wang Bi seem... more In his Laozi Commentary (老子注) and Structure of the Laozi's Subtle Pointers (老子微指例略), Wang Bi seems to identify the Dao with "absence" or "nothingness" (wu). Despite this identification, some modern commentators regard Wang Bi's Dao as a being. Other commentators deny that the Dao is a being but, nonetheless, seem to regard it as a reality of some kind. In contrast, I propose that Wang Bi's Dao is literal absence and that we need not reify this absence in any way. Wang Bi's descriptions of the Dao can be understood as metaphorical descriptions of mere absence. To support this proposal, I present an interpretation of Wang Bi's Dao and then apply this interpretation to the first section of Wang Bi's Laozi commentary and to the first section of the Structure of the Laozi's Subtle Pointers.
The paper uploaded here differs from the final published paper. For a view-only version of the published paper, follow this link: https://rdcu.be/cLiXd
Praxis, 2011
The Mahabharata, an Indian epic poem, describes a legendary war between two sides of a royal fami... more The Mahabharata, an Indian epic poem, describes a legendary war between two sides of a royal family. The epic's plot involves numerous moral dilemmas that have intrigued and perplexed scholars of Indian literature. Many of these dilemmas revolve around a character named Krsna. Krsna is a divine incarnation and a self-proclaimed upholder of dharma, a system of social and religious duties central to Hindu ethics. Yet, during the war, Krsna repeatedly encourages his allies to use tactics that violate dharma. In this paper, I try to make sense of Krsna’s actions by analyzing them in terms of categories from Western moral philosophy. I show that Krsna seems to embrace an ethical approach called consequentialism, but that his version of consequentialism differs from Western theories of consequentialism by seeing adherence to dharma as an intrinsic good.
Ancient Philosophy, 2016
A review of Eli Diamond's Mortal Imitations of Divine Life: The Nature of the Soul in Aristotle's... more A review of Eli Diamond's Mortal Imitations of Divine Life: The Nature of the Soul in Aristotle's De Anima.