Rediscovering God with Transcendental Argument : A Contemporary Interpretation of Monistic Kashmiri Saiva Philosophy

Contents: 1. Introduction. 2. Interpretive histories and the scope of this study. 3. The task of the Pratyabhijna system. 4. The challenge of the Buddhist opponents. 5. A summary of the Saiva theory of recognition. 6. Epistemological applications of the theory of recognition. 7. Features of the ontology of recognition. 8. Conclusion. Notes. Bibliography. Index.

"Rediscovering God with Transcendental Argument provides a comparative philosophical study of the Pratyabhijna system of the medieval Kashmiri Saiva thinkers Utpaladeva and Abhinavagupta. Beginning with intensive descriptive and prescriptive reflections on the nature of philosophy itself, the book examines the special characteristics of the Pratyabhijna discourse as both philosophical apologetics and spiritual exercise. Lawrence situates the Pratyabhijna speculation within the larger context of Hindu and Buddhist deliberations about the role of interpretation in experience, and gives a groundbreaking exposition of the epistemology and ontology of Siva's self-recognition. He observes the similarities and differences of the Pratyabhijna with Christian understandings of the divine logos, and argues that the Saiva philosophy elucidates a cogent way of demonstrating the reality of God against contemporary relativism, deconstructionism and other forms of skepticism."

[David Peter Lawrence is Assistant Professor in the Division of Humanities at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.]