Title
Gaṅgeśa on Self-Presenta tion
Abstract
If I undergo a conscious experience or thought\, must I be aware of that experience or tho ught as it occurs? During the second millennium\, Sanskrit authors arguably began to converge on a positive verdict: Occurrent experiences or thoughts simply constitute self-knowledge\, or are ‘self-presenting’ (svaprakāśa). Authors of the Nyāya epistemological tradition\, however\, dissented from t he emerging consensus. In this talk\, I examine arguments against self-pres entation from Gaṅgeśa (c. 14th century)\, the central figure of ‘new’ Nyāya and one of the most influential Sanskrit thinkers of the second millennium .
Jettisoning early Buddhist arguments\, Gaṅgeśa reaches across Prābh ākara and Vedānta sources to first develop a strong case for ‘three-factor perception’ (tripuṭīpratyakṣa)\, a self-presentation theory of introspectio n attributable to Śālikanātha (c. 9th century) according to which all occur rent experiences and thoughts both have de se content and constitute self-k nowledge: To perceive a piano is to perceive that one is aware of the piano . The resulting arguments\, I show\, are driven by a set of historically id entifiable principles governing ordinary patterns of behaviour (vyavahāra) and their relation to aboutness (viṣayatva). Against these arguments\, Gaṅg eśa presents a convincing case not only that the relevant principles are fa lse\, but that the phenomena that three-factor perception is meant to expla in can be captured by first-order attitudes towards the facts with simple o bject-directed indexical content. On grounds of cognitive economy\, he conc ludes\, we should reject claims that occurrent experiences or thoughts must constitute self-knowledge\, instead preferring a higher-order perception a ccount on which self-knowledge is required only situationally.
Jack Beaulieu is the Fellow by Examination in Philosop hy at Magdalen College\, Oxford. He holds a PhD in Philosophy from the Univ ersity of Toronto and was previously an undergraduate at the University of British Columbia from 2014–2018. A historian of Sanskrit philosophy\, his r esearch primarily focuses on second-millennium Nyāya\, especially its immen sely influential central figure\, Gaṅgeśa\, and his engagement with earlier Prābhākara authors. His paper on Gaṅgeśa’s commentator\, "Raghunātha on Se eing Absence\," was awarded the 2023 Rogers Prize by the British Journal fo r the History of Philosophy\, its annual prize for best article.
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