Quietism, Agnosticism and Mysticism

Krishna Mani Pathak (PhD, Heidelberg) is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Hindu College, University of Delhi, India. He has worked as lecturer at Heidelberg University, Germany and as Visiting Professor at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute, Mauritius. He is an active member of the American Philosophical Association and is currently serving as member of its Committee for International Cooperation for a three years term. He is also on the editorial board of the Acorn Journal, USA. He is a founding life member of the Ludwig Wittgenstein Philosophical Society (LWPS) of India. His publications cover a range of topics from theoretical to comparative philosophy to applied philosophy. His recent publications have appeared in the series of Routledge Studies in Eighteenth-Century Philosophy, Springer’s Schopenhauer on Self, World and Morality, Sage Open, Journal of Human Values, Tulsi Prajñā, Asia Journal of Global Studies, International Journal of Applied Ethics and WCP proceedings. He has also been external assessor for grant applications of SSHRC, Canada and article editor for Sage Publications

PART I: The Quietist Thinking1. What is Philosophical Quietism (Wittgensteinian and otherwise)?Thomas J. Spiegel2. Silence as a Therapeutic Device: A Case for Śūnyavāda as Philosophical QuietismAjay Verma3. Rationalistic Value Realism as a Religion without God: An Option for Metaethical QuietismStelios Virvidakis4. Does the Ineffability of Brahman lead to Quietism? Śaṅkara on the Indispensability ofLanguageVedika Mati Hurdoyal-Chekhori
PART II: The Agnostic Mind5. Sañjaya’s ajñanavāda and Mahāvīra’s anekāntavāda: From Agnosticism to PluralismAnish Chakravarty6. Agnosticism, Atheism and Naturalism’s Imaginaire: A Defense of God and ReligionPeter Feldmeier7. Mystical Theistic Ineffability and AgnosticismJerome Gellman8. An Agnostic Deconstruction of Mysticism and the Philosophical Value of its Truth ClaimsChristine M. Ratzlaff
PART III: The Mystic’s World9. Plotinus and Godlike VirtuesStephen R. L. Clark10. Connection between Faith and Reason in Religious MysticismMansi Handa11. Mysticism of Experience, Faith in Communication: Nietzsche and KierkegaardOle Höffken12. Encoded Language as Mystical Revelation Among the Bāuls of West BengalJarrod Hyam13. The Cosmic World, the Mystical Mind and the Vedic Concept of OriginationKrishna Mani Pathak