Rafal K Stepien
Biographic Data
| ID | 481890 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Rafal K Stepien |
| GIVEN NAMES | Rafal K |
| FAMILY NAME | Stepien |
| SIGNATURE | STEPIEN R K |
| AFFILIATIONS | Nanyang Technological University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9294-9552 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 3 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 10 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
How Not to Diversify Philosophy of Religion
Philosophy of religion has been the object of penetrating critiques concerning its continued near-complete blindness to all but a single religion. The need for philosophy of religion to open up so as to include more than merely occasional and tokenistic treatments of ‘Other’ religions is clearly evident from the slew of recently published titles concerned with diversifying the field. In this light, a book such as Victoria Harrison’s Eastern Philo…
Prolegomena to a Buddhist philosophy of religion
Interdisciplinarity in Nondisciplines
This article reveals, criticizes, and attempts to overcome the systemic divides between the ideals of an interdisciplinarily employed archive and the realities of a disciplinarily deployed academy. Following an initial section on “Parameters and Proposals” in which I frame the ambit and arguments to follow, in “Religious Studies as Nondiscipline” I argue against the view that religious studies constitutes a discrete discipline. In “Interdisciplin…
Tetralemma and Trinity
This is an essay in comparative philosophy and philosophy of religion building on the ontological claims espoused by two major thinkers in the Buddhist and Christian philosophical traditions: Nāgārjuna (c. 150–250) and Hegel (1770–1831). I use Nāgārjuna’s fourfold tetralemma (catuṣkoṭi) and Hegel’s threefold dialectic (Dialektik) to propose a novel understanding of the ontological status of the self in its relation to itself and to its other, the…
Interreligious Relations with No Self
Various models of interreligious relations have been proposed in recent scholarship, including most prominently the several varieties of inclusivism, exclusivism, and pluralism. One abiding presupposition shared across these models takes the religious adherent (or community of adherents) as a unified individual (or collective of such individuals). This assumption overlooks an important feature of the mystical strains of religiosity, which is to n…
Buddhist Philosophy of Consciousness
Buddhist Philosophy of Consciousness: Tradition and Dialogue, edited by Mark Siderits, Ching Keng and John Spackman. Brill, 2021. 356pp., €135/$162. Hb ISBN-13: 9789004440890; e-PDF ISBN-13: 9789004440913
Substantialism, Essentialism, Emptiness
Abandoning All Views
Orienting Reason
Recent scholarly interest in Nāgārjuna has been intense, with especial focus on the vexed question of the rationality, or irrationality, of his thought. In this article, I am concerned to bring to light the theoretical underpinnings of the hermeneutical project predominant among present-day scholars, which is to actively overlook or downright depreciate the religious motivation of Nāgārjuna’s arguments. While this project has typically been pursu…
A Study in Sufi Poetics
Throughout his poetic oeuvre, Shaykh Farīd al-Dīn ʿAṭṭār Nayshābūrī (d. ca. 618/1221) repeatedly addresses the question of the relationship between literary-poetic and religio-mystical pursuits. ʿAṭṭār vacillates between denouncing poetic composition as inconsistent with religious orthodoxy, and embracing poetry as the very apex of spiritual practice. This essay explores ʿAṭṭār’s fluid poetics through a comprehensive examination of his stated pos…
Buddhist Philosophy of Consciousness
Buddhist Philosophy of Consciousness: Tradition and Dialogue, edited by Mark Siderits, Ching Keng and John Spackman. Brill, 2021. 356pp., €135/$162. Hb ISBN-13: 9789004440890; e-PDF ISBN-13: 9789004440913
Substantialism, Essentialism, Emptiness
A Study in Sufi Poetics
Throughout his poetic oeuvre, Shaykh Farīd al-Dīn ʿAṭṭār Nayshābūrī (d. ca. 618/1221) repeatedly addresses the question of the relationship between literary-poetic and religio-mystical pursuits. ʿAṭṭār vacillates between denouncing poetic composition as inconsistent with religious orthodoxy, and embracing poetry as the very apex of spiritual practice. This essay explores ʿAṭṭār’s fluid poetics through a comprehensive examination of his stated pos…
Orienting Reason
Recent scholarly interest in Nāgārjuna has been intense, with especial focus on the vexed question of the rationality, or irrationality, of his thought. In this article, I am concerned to bring to light the theoretical underpinnings of the hermeneutical project predominant among present-day scholars, which is to actively overlook or downright depreciate the religious motivation of Nāgārjuna’s arguments. While this project has typically been pursu…
Abandoning All Views
Interreligious Relations with No Self
Various models of interreligious relations have been proposed in recent scholarship, including most prominently the several varieties of inclusivism, exclusivism, and pluralism. One abiding presupposition shared across these models takes the religious adherent (or community of adherents) as a unified individual (or collective of such individuals). This assumption overlooks an important feature of the mystical strains of religiosity, which is to n…
Buddhist Philosophy of Consciousness
Buddhist Philosophy of Consciousness: Tradition and Dialogue, edited by Mark Siderits, Ching Keng and John Spackman. Brill, 2021. 356pp., €135/$162. Hb ISBN-13: 9789004440890; e-PDF ISBN-13: 9789004440913
Substantialism, Essentialism, Emptiness
Tetralemma and Trinity
This is an essay in comparative philosophy and philosophy of religion building on the ontological claims espoused by two major thinkers in the Buddhist and Christian philosophical traditions: Nāgārjuna (c. 150–250) and Hegel (1770–1831). I use Nāgārjuna’s fourfold tetralemma (catuṣkoṭi) and Hegel’s threefold dialectic (Dialektik) to propose a novel understanding of the ontological status of the self in its relation to itself and to its other, the…
How Not to Diversify Philosophy of Religion
Philosophy of religion has been the object of penetrating critiques concerning its continued near-complete blindness to all but a single religion. The need for philosophy of religion to open up so as to include more than merely occasional and tokenistic treatments of ‘Other’ religions is clearly evident from the slew of recently published titles concerned with diversifying the field. In this light, a book such as Victoria Harrison’s Eastern Philo…
Prolegomena to a Buddhist philosophy of religion
Interdisciplinarity in Nondisciplines
This article reveals, criticizes, and attempts to overcome the systemic divides between the ideals of an interdisciplinarily employed archive and the realities of a disciplinarily deployed academy. Following an initial section on “Parameters and Proposals” in which I frame the ambit and arguments to follow, in “Religious Studies as Nondiscipline” I argue against the view that religious studies constitutes a discrete discipline. In “Interdisciplin…
Philosophy (10 works) · Epistemology (9 works) · Theology (8 works) · Indian and Buddhist Studies (7 works) · Buddhism (6 works) · Religious studies (6 works) · Sociology (4 works) · Computer Science (3 works) · Philosophy (3 works) · Philosophy of religion (3 works)