Western Philosophy

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.  

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.

Name of course

Teacher

Philosophy of Action

Philosophy of Science

Philosophy of Language

Philosophy of Mind

Philosophy and Religion

Contemporary Epistemology

Conceptual Knowledge

Ancient Philosophy of Mind

Plato's Timaeus

Theories of Ethics

Political and Legal Obligation

Advanced Political Philosophy

Decision Theory

Social Action

Stoics, Epicureans and Sceptics

Plato

Aristotle

Medieval Philosophy

Philosophy in the Renaissance

Empiricism

Heidegger: Being and Time

Kant to Nietsche - Modernity

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Kínai- görög összehasonlító filozófia (Chinese - Western Comparative Philosophy)

Tarr Dániel : A felborult rend filozófiája - Hesziodosz és a Ji-King . (The Philosophy of Lost Order - Hesiod and the Ji-King) [Spring 1994] {GDBC Ancient- and Chinese Philosophy} - [(MS Word) « read it ]
Tarr Bence : A Lét a pre-taoista és Preszókratikus filozófiában - Wang-pi és Parmenidész . (Wang-pi and Parmenides - The question of Existance in pre-taoist and presocratic philosophy) . [Spring 1994] {GDBC Ancient- and Chinese Philosophy} - [(MS Word) « read it ]

Filozófiatörténet (History of Philosophy)

Tarr Bence : Pürrhon és a Buddhizmus . (Pyrrho and Buddhism) {ELTE Philosophy} - [(MS Word) « read it ]
Tarr Bence : A 'Természet tudománya' Hérakleitosz töredékeiben . (The "Philosophy of Nature"; in Heracleitus' fragments) {ELTE Philosophy} - [(MS Word) « read it ]
Tarr Bence : A "természet tudománya" Hérakleitosznál . (Heracleitus : "Philosophy of Nature") {ELTE Philosophy} - [(MS Word) « read it ]
Daniel Tarr : Aurelius Augustinus . [Autumn 1995] {GDBC History of Philosophy}
Daniel Tarr : Aurelius Augustinus: Confessions . [1992] {ELTE PHIL Nagy László}
Daniel Tarr : Descartes: Discourse on Method . [1993] {ELTE PHIL Nagy László}
Daniel Tarr : Hume: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding . [1993] {ELTE PHIL Nagy László}
Daniel Tarr : Individualism and modern philosophy . [1992] {ELTE PHIL Nagy László}
Daniel Tarr : Plato . [1992] {ELTE PHIL Nagy László}
Daniel Tarr : Plato: Phaedo . [1992] {ELTE PHIL Nagy László}
Daniel Tarr : Pre-Socratic Thought – The Philosophy of ONE . [Autumn 1993] {GDBC Ancient Philosophy}
Daniel Tarr : Rousseau: Social Contract . [1993] {ELTE PHIL Nagy László}

Metafizika (Metaphysics)

Tarr Bence : Paltón eszmélése, avagy a phronészisz . (Plato's Enlightenment - The concept of phronesis) [1993] {GDBC Ancient Philosophy} - [(MS Word) « read it ]

Episztemológia (Epistemology)

Tarr Bence : A 'Tér' fogalmának problémája Platón Timaioszában . (Plato's Chora - The problem of "Space" in Plato's Timaus) {ELTE Philosophy} - [(MS Word) « read it ]
Tarr Bence : A külvilág Hume radikális szkepszisének tükrében . (The External World in light of Hume's Radical Scepticism) {ELTE Philosophy} - [(MS Word) « read it ]
Tarr Bence : Hume szélsőséges szkepticizmusa a kanti kriticizmus tükrében . (Hume's Scepticism in light of Kantian Crtiticism) {ELTE Philosophy} - [(MS Word) « read it ]
Tarr Bence : Kant: Ding An Sich . {ELTE Philosophy} - [(MS Word) « read it ]
Tarr Bence : Wittgenstein ontológiája - Avagy a világ mint logikai tér . (Wittgenstein's ontology - The world as logical space) {ELTE Philosophy} - [(MS Word) « read it ]
Tarr Bence : Wittgenstein Docta Ignorantia-ja . (Wittgenstein's Docta Ignorantia) {ELTE Philosophy} - [(MS Word) « read it ]
Tarr Bence : Lábjegyzet a naív realizmus elméletéhez - kiegészítés az ind-filozófia tárgyköréből . (Yogacara and Realism - An Addition to Naive Realism .) {ELTE Philosophy} - [(MS Word) « read it ]

Available in English:

Metaphysics

Daniel Tarr : The Concept of Metempsychosis in Early Greek Philosophy . [Autumn 2001] {CEU Philosophy and Religion} - [(MS Word) « read it ]
Daniel Tarr : Plato's Enlightenment – The concept of phronesis . [Autumn 2001] {CEU Ancient Philosophy} - [(MS Word) « read it ]

Epistemology

Daniel Tarr : Cognition and Freedom in 17-18^th century philosophy . [1992] {ELTE PHIL Nagy László} 
Bence Tarr : The Question of Induction in Hume's Enquiry . {ELTE Philosophy} - [(MS Word) « read it ]
Bence Tarr : The Theory of Direct Realism . [1999] {ELTE Philosophy} - [(MS Word) « read it ]
Daniel Tarr : The Theory of Direct Realism – In the light of Theories of Perception . [Autumn 2001] {CEU Empiricism} - [(MS Word) « read it ]
Bence Tarr : Philosophical nonegocentrism in Wittgenstein and Candrakirti . (recension of R. A. F. Thurman's essay) [1997] {ELTE PHIL} - [(MS Word) « read it ]

All written documents are available for reading in the » Library .