My Book Reviews

  Readers of these reviews will know that I have a predilection for philosophical psychology , that is, for musing about psychological issues, and then asking philosophical questions about those issues. A big area of interest for me is the concept of the Self and what that may be (ontologically) , and indeed mean (epistemologically) . Another way of stating that would be to say that books both non-fiction and fiction, articles, blogs, v logs, documentaries and so on, all media that deal with such issues fall within the sphere of my attention. In short, anything that touches on our identity as human beings interests me highly. I n this particular post I would like to review an interesting book entitled Thoughts Without a Thinker: Psychotherapy f rom a Buddhist Perspective by Mark Epstein, M.D. (Basic Books, New York, 1995). The title alone drew me as it somehow resonated with my own lived experience of life. As I have recounted multiple times in these posts, I experienced ...

There is an ancient philosophical proposition called the Irenaean theodicy , which argues that evil in the world can be accounted for as a principle for the development of character. In other words, St Irenaeus (130 – 202 A. D.) believed that evil and suffering were necessary tools for spiritual growth and development.   Today, we can substitute the modern terms personal, emotional and spiritual development for Irenaeus’s emphasis on spiritual growth alone.  This, I believe, was an extremely subtle, but a deeply spiritual insight for a scholar from the second century.  Characteristics like sympathy, empathy, compassion, and courage; care and personal sacrifice for others; faith and trust; forgiveness and integrity; as well as growth in knowledge per se , can only take place in response to the encounter with evil and suffering.  The very process of learning itself is by fits and starts, trial and error - indeed, scientific discovery proceeds by correction of its erro...