New Books in Philosophy, July 2024

Buddhist Ethics and the Bodhisattva Path: Śāntideva on Virtue and Well-Being (Bloomsbury Academic, 2024)

This month, I’ve recorded an interview for New Books in Philosophy with Stephen Harris about his new book, Buddhist Ethics and the Bodhisattva Path: Śāntideva on Virtue and Well-Being (Bloomsbury Academic, 2024).

In ordinary, non-academic, terms, the book is about how a famous Buddhist philosopher thinks argumentation and meditation are ways for people to become better, more virtuous people. And this philosopher thinks that being good is good for us, a way towards happiness. This is even though he denies the existence of a soul or a self.

In academic speak: this book articulates Śāntideva’s moral psychology and virtue theory in chapter-length treatments of four central virtues: generosity, patience, compassion, and wisdom. According to Harris, Śāntideva thinks these virtues benefit human persons, and thus the radically altruistic bodhisattva path is also a self-interested one. Harris’s book also explores how this ethical project coheres with the emptiness of all things, the famous Madhyamaka denial of intrinsic nature.

Take a listen!