Buddhist Ethics as Moral PhenomenologyProf. Dr. Jay Garfield (Department of Philosophy, Smith College, Northampton)

14 May 2013

Veranstaltung in Kooperation mit dem Tibetischen Zentrum e.V. Hamburg

It is tempting to try to understand Buddhist ethics in terms of Western ethics. Some have tried to show that it is a species of virtue ethics, and indeed Buddhist ethicists do talk about virtue. Others have tried to show that it is a species – or several species – of consequentialism. And indeed Buddhist ethicists do talk about pain, pleasure and the consequences of action. But neither of these approaches does justice to Buddhist ethics. I will argue that Buddhist ethics – particularly the approach of Santideva – is best understood on its own terms, as a kind of moral phenomenology, and that as such, it has a great deal to contribute to contemporary global ethical discourse.  Jay Garfield is Doris Silbert Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Philosophy at Smith College/ Northampton, at the University of Massachusetts, at Melbourne University, and he is Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at the Central University of Tibetan Studies in Sarnath, India. He teaches and pursues research in the philosophy of mind, foundations of cognitive science, logic, philosophy of language, Buddhist philosophy, cross-cultural hermeneutics, theoretical and applied ethics and epistemology. He is author of numerous books on Western and Buddhist Philosophy, including Empty Words: Buddhist Philosophy and Cross-Cultural Interpretation (OUP 1996).