Sutras & Stuff: A Philosophy Podcast

It seems like everyone, from companies to online influencers to fitness coaches, talk about having mantras. But what are mantras, anyway? In this episode, we'll talk about how they compare to birdsong, Tibetan singing bowls, and spells at Hogwarts, as well as some ancient debates about whether they mean anything, and why that matters.

Listen to more episodes of Sutras & Stuff at www.sutrasandstuff.com...

Just keep swimming!

What do the Metaverse, blue aliens, and airbenders have in common? They’re all based on the idea of the avatar, which goes back thousands of years to the Sanskrit term avatāra. In this episode, we’ll explore what an avatar is and how thinking about these ideas in ancient Hindu and Buddhist contexts can help us think about reality, the divine, and even our survival after death...

Does what goes around always come around? And is instant karma gonna get you? In the first episode of a season devoted to Sanskrit-to-English loanwords, we’ll examine how three groups of Indian philosophers understand karma: Jains, Buddhists, and Naiyayikas (or Nyaya philosophers).

Sounds and Music

All music excerpts and soundbites used with an understanding of fair use modification for educational purposes...

Taylor Swift says karma is her boyfriend, and Boy George sings about karma chameleons. In addition to “karma,” there are lots of other Sanskrit terms which have made their way into English: yoga, dharma, mantra, guru, Buddha, swastika, and more. In this season, we’ll focus on one word an episode to get a deeper understanding of what they meant in their original contexts, and how these meanings resonate today...

In this episode, I talk with Tom Davies, Seymour Reader in Ancient History and Philosophy at the University of Melbourne, about how understanding Indian philosophy in relationship with the rest of the ancient world helps us reflect on what philosophy is, as a human activity, in different cultural contexts.

Note: This is the final episode of the regular season, concluding the series of interviews with philosophers who taught Philosophy and Political Thought at Yale-NUS...

In this episode, I talk with Robin Zheng, Senior Lecturer at the University of Glasgow, about connections between social practices and knowing in premodern Indian philosophy and contemporary feminist philosophy.

Further Resources:

Robin Zheng’s website: https://www.robin-zheng.me/

Helen Longino: https://philosophy.stanford.edu/people/helen-longino

Miranda Fricker: https://www.mirandafricker.com/

Christy Dotson: https://lsa.umich...

In this episode, I talk with Cathay Liu, Senior Lecturer at the National University of Singapore, about philosophical systems and both Indian and European philosophy in the 17th century.

Further Resources

Rene Descarteshttps://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes/

The Tarkasamgraha at https://archive...

In this episode, I talk with Neil Mehta, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Yale-NUS, about what exists and what we can say about it.

Further Resources

Neil Mehta’s website: http://www.profneilmehta.com/

Theory of Two Truths in India: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/twotruths-india/

Graham Priest’s website: https://grahampriest.net

Metaphysics of grounding: https://plato...

In this episode, I talk with Matthew Walker, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Yale-NUS, about ancient philosophy, therapeutic arguments, reading practices, and the Bhagavad Gita.

Further Resources

Matt Walker’s website: https://sites.google.com/site/mattwalker2000/home

Aristotle on the Uses of Contemplation: https://www.cambridge...