Spiritual Titanism

Spiritual Titanism Indian, Chinese, and Western Perspectives
Click on image to enlarge Search this Book's Content	Nicholas F. Gier - Author SUNY series in Constructive Postmodern Thought Price: $66.50 Hardcover - 328 pages Release Date: March 2000 ISBN10: 0-7914-4527-5 ISBN13: 978-0-7914-4527-3 Quantity: Price: $29.95 Paperback - 328 pages Release Date: March 2000 ISBN10: 0-7914-4528-3 ISBN13: 978-0-7914-4528-0 Quantity:
Summary
A comparative philosophical consideration of the extremes of humanism, or "Titanism," this book critiques trends in Eastern and Western philosophy and examines solutions to them. This work in comparative philosophy uses the concept of Titanism to critique certain trends in both Eastern and Western philosophy. Titanism is an extreme form of humanism in which human beings take on divine attributes and prerogatives. The author finds the most explicit forms of spiritual Titanism in the Jaina, Samkhya, and Yoga traditions, where yogis claim powers and knowledge that in the West are only attributed to God. These philosophies are also radically dualistic, and liberation involves a complete transcendence of the body, society, and nature. Five types of spiritual Titanism are identified; and, in addition to this typology, a heuristic based on Nietzsche's three metamorphoses of camel, lion, and child is offered. The book determines that answers to spiritual Titanism begin not only with the Hindu Goddess religion, but also are found in Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism, especially Zen Buddhism and Confucianism. "The act of cross-cultural comparison, particularly in religious studies, is an art that once flourished but is now routinely challenged from a whole host of technical and specialist fronts. Gier's text, essentially a comprehensive essay of normative comparative philosophy, is especially refreshing in such a world, as it effectively brings together an impressive range of scholarship (Western philosophy and theology, comparative mythology, Jaina, Hindu, Buddhist, Daoist, and Confucian Studies) to create a truly comparative text with a distinct, original, philosophically and religiously important thesis. Gier's category of 'Titanism,' which functions as an ethical critique of mystical religiosities from the standpoint of a constructive postmodern and humanistic standpoint, enables him to accomplish this synthetic and normative feat, and to do it in a way that does not collapse the very real differences between these traditions into a simplistic perennialism or universalism. This is one of the few books that I have read that actually makes sense of what a 'postmodern' perspective is and how it might function. This is no mean accomplishment." -- Jeffrey J. Kripal, author of Kali's Child: The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and Teachings of Ramakrishna Nicholas F. Gier is Professor of Philosophy and Coordinator of Religious Studies at the University of Idaho. He is the author of Wittgenstein and Phenomenology: A Comparative Study of the Later Wittgenstein, Husserl, Heidegger, and Merleau-Ponty, also published by SUNY Press, and God, Reason, and the Evangelicals: The Case Against Evangelical Rationalism.
Table of Contents PREFACE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INTRODUCTION Introduction The Titans: Superhuman and Superdivine Uttaravada versus Avataravada Summaries of the Chapters Nietzsche's Übermensch Not a Titan 1. TITANISM IN THE WEST Introduction Humanism and Superhumanism Existentialism and Titanism Christian Titanism and the Incarnation Western Answers to Titanism 2. THE SELF AND CONSTRUCTIVE POSTMODERNISM Introduction Premodernism, Modernism, and Postmodernism Hebraic and Buddhist Skandhas Problems with Indian Dualisms ACritique of Advaita Vedanta ABuddhist Dialectic of Reconstruction Conclusions 3. PROMETHEUS EAST: GREEK AND HINDU TITANS Introduction Asura Titanism Human Titans in the Puranas Titans and Olympians Conclusions 4. JAINA SUPERHUMANISM AND GNOSTIC TITANISM Introduction Jaina Colossi and the Cosmic Man The Status of the Jaina Gods Man Is God and Homo Mensura Omniscience: Mahavira and the Buddha Anekantavada and Gnostic Titanism Panzooism, Mind-Body, and Process Philosophy Conclusions 5. HINDU TITANISM Introduction Types of Indian Titanism Yoga Titanism The Purusa Hymn and its Legacy The Purusa as Cosmic Yogi Monism, Ecology, and Titanism 6. THE YOGI AND THE GODDESS Prologue: The Dancing Goddess Introduction The Material Principle: East and West The Goddess in Indian Philosophy Puranic Expressions of the Goddess Kurtz’s Psychoanalytic Interpretation Does the Goddess Speak with a Woman's Voice? Conclusions Epilogue: The Triumph of the Goddess 7. NEO-VEDANTA AND AUROBINDOS SUPERMAN Introduction Ramakrishna: Kali's Child Vivekananda's "Manly" Neo-Vedanta Supermind, Superman, and Supernature Conclusions 8. BUDDHISM, HUMANISM, AND TITANISM Introduction Buddhist Humanism The Buddha Is Just the Buddha The Buddha as Mahapurisa The Cosmological Buddha of Mahayana The Siddhas: Buddha's Lions Zen, the Body, and Society Conclusions 9. ON THE DEIFICATION OF CONFUCIUS Introduction A History of Confucius' Elevation Is the Sage God? The Sage as a Great Person 10. XUNZI AND NEO-CONFUCIANISM Introduction Xunzi, Tian, and the Cosmic Triad Is Xunzi a Technological Titan? Machle: Xunzi Not a Titan Neo-Confucianism and Titanism Self, Body, and Society 11. LAOZI, ZHUANGZI, AND NIETZSCHE Introduction Purusa and Panku Immortality and the Immortals Zhuangzi and Postmodernism Zhuangzi and the Perfect Person Zhuangzi and Nietzsche The Triumph of the Confucian Sage NOTES SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX