Dialectical Practice in Tibetan Philosophical Culture: An Ethnomethodological Inquiry into Formal Reasoning [CD not included] - Softcover

Liberman, Kenneth

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0742556123 ISBN 13: 9780742556126

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2007

Synopsis

For a website that offers examples of debating strategies, videos of actual debates (with English translations), and an interactive debate, click here. Tibetan Buddhist scholar-monks have long engaged in face-to-face public philosophical debates. This original study challenges Orientalist text-based scholarship, which has overlooked these lived practices of Tibetan dialectics. Kenneth Liberman brings these dynamic disputations to life for the modern reader through a richly detailed, turn-by-turn analysis of the monks' formal philosophical reasoning. He argues that Tibetan Buddhists deliberately organize their debates into formal structures that both empower and constrain thinking, skillfully using logic as an interactional tool to organize their reflections. During his three years in residence at Tibetan monastic universities, Liberman observed and videotaped the monks' debates. He then transcribed, translated, and analyzed them using multimedia software and ethnomethodological techniques, which enabled him to scrutinize the local methods that Tibetan debaters use to keep their philosophical inquiries alive. His study shows the monks rely on such indigenous dialectical methods as extending an opponent's position to its absurd consequences, "pulling the rug out" from under an opponent, and other lively strategies. This careful investigation of the formal philosophical work of Tibetan scholars is a pathbreaking analysis of an important classical tradition. An accompanying website offers a set of interactive debate tutorials, which include examples of photographs of debates; a guide to the participants; a grammar of Tibetan debating, which includes sample propositions, responses, and strategies; the ethnomethods employed by debaters; videos of illustrative debates, complete with English translations, all analyzed in detail in the book; and an appendix comprising an interactive debate, glossary, manual, and illustrations

About this title

Review:

An exceptional ethnography. . . . Ken Liberman describes orderlinesses of ordinary society--as unfamiliar and strange to peer-reviewed literatures as they are true.--Harold Garfinkel, University of California, Los Angeles; from the foreword

The book presents a balanced analysis of the socially embedded practices of Tibetan debate.--Himalayan Research Bulletin

As with other milestones, this is sure to set the standard for future ethnomethodological, conversation analytic, and even more general ethnographic work.--Contemporary Sociology

Liberman has produced a remarkable and in many ways quite unique piece of work. In a field of study (that of Tibetan culture) previously dominated entirely by philologians and historians, Liberman has been able to establish a foothold for sociologists and other social scientists eager to explore the concrete practices of Tibetans in their actual life-world.--Human Studies

Liberman renders great service to those of us who are willing to step outside the boundaries of textual studies to join him in exploring actual Tibetan debate culture. His book is of definite benefit to both unprepared readers and those already familiar with Buddhist philosophy in general and Geluk philosophical culture in particular. Together with the accompanying Web site, parts of the book can also be adopted for advanced courses on Tibetan language, culture, and philosophy. Dialectical Practice in Tibetan Philosophical Culture not only brings more nuance and detail to our understanding of Tibetan philosophical practices; it opens altogether a new perspective on this exciting and important dimension of Buddhist culture in general.--Sophia: International Journal of Philosophy and Traditions

Synopsis:

Tibetan Buddhist scholar-monks have long engaged in face-to-face public philosophical debates. This original study challenges Orientalist text-based scholarship, which has missed these lived practices of Tibetan dialectics. Kenneth Liberman brings these dynamic disputations to life for the modern reader through a richly detailed, turn-by-turn analysis of the monks' formal philosophical reasoning. He argues that Tibetan Buddhists deliberately organize their debates into formal structures that both empower and constrain thinking, skillfully using logic as an interactional tool to organize their reflections. This careful investigation of the formal philosophical work of Tibetan scholars is a pathbreaking analysis of an important classical tradition. The book is packaged with a CD-ROM that offers examples of debating strategies, videos (with English translations) of actual debates, and an interactive debate.

About this edition

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0742556123
• ISBN 13: 9780742556126
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 338