Abstract

In everyday experience, we assume our perceptions and actions engage physical objects that exist independently of our mind. Yet philosophers across time and traditions question this, suggesting we directly perceive only mental entities—an idea radicalized in what in Western philosophy is known as “idealism”. Such challenges have in turn motivated realists to defend their approach more rigorously. This symposium explores the diverse theories, proofs, and arguments arising from the vigorous debates on perception’s nature and limitations that have animated South Asian philosophy, as well as Tibetan Buddhist thought. The contributions cover philosophers from the fourth to thirteenth centuries CE from Buddhist as well as Brahmanical (Mīmāṃsā, Vedānta) traditions. They address mental subjectivity and intentionality, the causation and phenomenology of mental events, as well as the metaphysics of action and the problem of solipsism. In doing so, the papers contribute to enlarging the canon of philosophy by drawing attention to the specific concerns and contexts that shaped philosophy in South Asia.

Speakers

Allison Aitken, Columbia University
Amit Chaturvedi, University of Hong Kong
Nilanjan Das, Cornell University
Elisa Freschi, University of Toronto
Pascal Hugon, Austrian Academy of Sciences
Birgit Kellner, Austrian Academy of Sciences
Patrick McAllister, Austrian Academy of Sciences
Serena Saccone, University of Naples
Akane Saito, Austrian Academy of Sciences
Marcus Schmücker, Austrian Academy of Sciences
John Taber, University of New Mexico, Emeritus
Davey Tomlinson, Villanova University
Alex Watson, Ashoka University
Jan Westerhoff, University of Oxford

Registration

Please register by 6 October 2026 at office.ikga(at)oeaw.ac.at if you wish to attend the symposium.

To participate online, register here:
https://oeaw-ac-at.zoom.us/meeting/register/AQYvksxOTkCcznhs7dPIHg. You will then receive access information by e-mail.