The methods of philosophy may be associated with practices such as rational dialogue, logical analysis, argumentation, and intellectual inquiry. However, many philosophical traditions in Asia, as well as in the ancient Greek world, consider an array of embodied contemplative practices as central to the work of philosophy and as philosophical methods in themselves. Leah Kalmanson surveys a few such practices, including those of the ancient Greeks as well as examples from Jain, Buddhist, and Confucian traditions. She argues that revisiting the contemplative practices of philosophy can help us to rethink the boundaries of the discipline, the nature and scope of scholarly methods, and the role of philosophy in everyday life.

Leah Kalmanson is an Associate Professor and the Bhagwan Adinath Professor of Jain Studies at the University of North Texas. She works at the intersection of comparative philosophy and postcolonial theory, with special interests in the liberational philosophies of China's Song dynasty and related discourses on issues of cultivation and transformation in philosophy more broadly, both personal and socio-political. She is the author of Cross-Cultural Existentialism (2020) and co-author of A Practical Guide to World Philosophies (2021).

Part of the London Lecture Series 2021-22 | “Expanding Horizons"