"Verum est, certum et verissimum, quod est, superius naturam habet inferioram et ascendens naturam descendentis."

education and studies | oriental studies

Timewarp: 2001 | 2002 | 2003

WESTERN PHILOSOPHY

Course Description
I have always been interested in philosophy for a long number of years now. During my high school years I have already specialized in (western) philosophy, librarianship and Latin. After finishing my high school studies, I also successfully applied to the Department of Philosophy at the Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE BTK) in Budapest, where I studied a number of subjects, but was diverted from further studies by my other fields of interest, especially my study of eastern thought at the Gate of Dharma Buddhist College (TKBF). I have also studied a number of western philosophy related subjects at the Jozsef Attila Open University (JATE) and Hermetic philosophy and mysticism at the Traditio Divina et Schola Transcendentiale.
Essays

Although my education involved a serious number of western philosophy related subjects and I studied the great classic thinkers and philosophers of the West, I did not have the chance to get involved to the level of my interest, so a started a Philosophy Ph.D. program at the Central European University (CEU) in 2001. I saw my study at CEU as my chance of making up for what I have put aside a number of years before. Although I was turned down by the department and thus could not earn a degree, the effort was well worthwhile and covered many gaps in my knowledge of western thought.

As a teacher of both western and Hindu-Buddhist philosophy myself, I am aware of the differences in the approach and study of eastern and western philosophy. As a consequence I think that my understanding of the Eastern approach to the philosophical question in general is not a disadvantage in the case of Western philosophy, but the other way round, it can be turned into a great advantage. Also my cultural anthropology studies have enabled me to see theoretical questions in a slightly different way particularly with focus on the human factor, similarly to hermeneutics.

In the field of philosophy my main interest slowly shifted towards the problems of ontology and epistemology in the course of years. I have studied Hindu ontology and epistemology in detail - with focus on the Samkhya philosophy of Isvarakrisna and the Vedanta philosophy of Sankara. I have also studied Buddhist ontology and epistemology in detail - with focus on the Madhyamaka philosophy of Nagarjuna and the Yogacara philosophy of Vasubandhu, Dignaga and Dharmakirti. I have also studied the classic western philosophers on both the rationalist and empiricist side and the Idealist philosophy of Kant, and Hegel of course. Later I studied some of the phenomenalism of Comte and Spencer (also on the side of his anthropology related social theory) and the emergent evolution theory of Bergson. Most recently however, I tried to pick up the line of the Philosophy of Organism by Alfred Whitehead.

One of my possible aims in the study of philosophy would be to create a comparative study of transcendentalism (metaphysical idealism) with regard to both Eastern and Western philosophy. This area has a lot of connections with Eastern thought as I see it. So my main interest is in Metaphysics and the Theory of Knowledge where I am more than happy to learn about contemporary metaphysics and contemporary epistemology.  

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Course Description

The main purpose of the Department of Philosophy at the Central European University is to train researchers and teachers for universities. The program makes use of the unique opportunity offered by CEU, a university chartered in the United States but located in Central Europe. This dual character of CEU creates an ideal institutional background for a philosophy program, which attempts to combine historical and analytical approaches to philosophy. The program's curriculum guarantees that students of the department can attain graduation only by gaining serious education in each of the major fields of contemporary philosophy. Thus the alumni of the department will have the rare ability to conduct dialogue across the dividing lines occasionally fragmenting the philosophical discipline...

The program includes three area of study. One are covers continental philosophy and various topics in the history of philosophy; another contemporary epistemology and metaphysics; and the third ethics and political philosophy. I am specializing on Metaphysics and the Theory of Knowledge thus my main studies include: 1.) Contemporary Metaphysics 2.) Philosophy of Religion 3.) Philosophy of Language 4.) Philosophy of Mind and 5.) Contemporary Epistemology.

PhD course in Philosophy

[Autumn 2001 - Spring 2002]

Courses in Metaphysics, Epistemology and Philosophy of Mind

Name of course

Teacher

Philosophy of Action

Ferenc Huoranszki

Philosophy of Science

Yehuda Elkana & Katalin Farkas

Philosophy of Language

Katalin Farkas

Philosophy of Mind

Howard Robinson

Philosophy and Religion

Sally Humphreys & Gábor Betegh

Contemporary Epistemology

Katalin Farkas

Conceptual Knowledge

N. Miscevic

Ancient Philosophy of Mind

István Bodnár

Plato's Timaeus

István Bodnár & Gábor Betegh

Courses in Moral and Political Philosophy

Name of course
Teacher

Theories of Ethics

László Ambrus-Lakatos

Political and Legal Obligation

János Kis

Advanced Political Philosophy

Ferenc Huoranszki

Decision Theory

László Ambrus-Lakatos

Social Action

Pavel Barsa

Courses in History of Philosophy

Name of course
Teacher

Stoics, Epicureans and Sceptics

Gábor Betegh

Plato

Gábor Betegh

Aristotle

István Bodnár

Medieval Philosophy

György Geregy

Philosophy in the Renaissance

Howard Robinson

Empiricism

Howard Robinson

Heidegger: Being and Time

Pavel Barsa

Kant to Nietsche - Modernity

Pavel Barsa

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Essays

History of Philosophy

Available in Hungarian:

  • Aurelius Augustinus [Autumn 1995] {GDBC History of Philosophy}
  • Aurelius Augustinus: Confessions [1992] {ELTE PHIL Nagy László}
  • Descartes: Discourse on Method [1993] {ELTE PHIL Nagy László}
  • Hume: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding [1993] {ELTE PHIL Nagy László}
  • Individualism and modern philosophy [1992] {ELTE PHIL Nagy László}
  • Plato [1992] {ELTE PHIL Nagy László}
  • Plato: Phaedo [1992] {ELTE PHIL Nagy László}
  • Pre-Socratic Thought - The Philosophy of ONE [Autumn 1993] {GDBC Ancient Philosophy}
  • Rousseau: Social Contract [1993] {ELTE PHIL Nagy László}
  • Available in English:

    Metaphysics

  • Plato's Enlightenment - The concept of phronesis [Autumn 2001] {CEU Ancient Philosophy} -[[« read it ]
  • The Concept of Metempsychosis in Early Greek Philosophy [Autumn 2001] {CEU Philosophy and Religion} -[[« read it ]
  • Epistemology

  • The Theory of Direct Realism - In the light of Theories of Perception [Autumn 2001] {CEU Empiricism} -[[« read it ]  
  • Cognition and Freedom in 17-18th century philosophy [1992] {ELTE PHIL Nagy László}
  • All written documents are available for reading in the » Library.

    Interested?   Write and I will send you a copy.

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    Want to know more?

    » Check out my Oriental Studies .

    » My work at the Buddhist College relates too.

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    Last updated: 21-03-2004