I am an author. I am author of two published philosophy monographs, a translation with commentary and introduction to a classic Sanskrit moral philosophy text, and editor of a scholarly volume with a monograph-length introduction. As well, I am an author of many peer reviewed articles in journals and edited volumes. My book length dissertation is also available freely online: it is one of the few philosophy dissertations on the topic of translation.
~ ~ ~
I am a philosopher who specializes in Ethics, Political Philosophy, the Philosophy of Thought, Philosophy of Language (especially translation theory) and Philosophy of Religion, who has a research specialization in a Non-Western tradition of philosophy–namely South Asian philosophy, especially Indian moral philosophy. Why so many areas? I got interested in the topic of how we can philosophically engage with people who we do not share a language, cultural or intellectual background with, early on in my career. Pursuing this question requires addressing several seemingly unconnected areas, but which all bear upon the challenge of hearing others out, finding solutions to practical problems, and coming to terms with our differences. My research specializations grew organically out of this project. One of the peculiar outcomes of this trajectory is that I am trained in Analytic (and to a lessor extent, Continental) philosophy, but I write about philosophy as such. I see philosophy as an under-appreciated avenue of research that is as objective and truth bearing as mathematics or science, and what stands in the way of appreciating this are the political forces that contribute to colonialism and imperialism: forces that conflate the thinkable with the perspective of some culture. The challenge as I see it, and write about it, is about formulating workable models of thought and understanding that are consistent with diversity, but can help us understand what research consists in across disciplines. For more on this, please see my description of Research.
~ ~ ~
I am a teacher of philosophy at York University, who teaches broad introductions to philosophy, critical reasoning, ethics, political philosophy, Asian philosophy, the philosophy of religion and the philosophy of language —at all levels. Teaching is also an integral part of my research as it focuses on rendering accessible philosophy that might seem alien to audiences. To render accessible what is alien, and to make explicit what seems implicit, is identical to sound pedagogy in philosophy.
~ ~ ~
I am a translation theorist and translator. These two aspects of my work grew organically. While I wrote a dissertation on translation, I decided to translate a philosophical text from Sanskrit because I could not stand the translations on the market. Getting myself involved with the fine details of translation had a marked influence on my philosophical views and translation theory.
~ ~ ~
I am a teacher of Yoga (more information to come), the philosophy and practice of Patañjali. My approach to this topic is distinctive in a few respects. First, my understanding of Patañjali’s philosophy is based on research into best practices for understanding and translating philosophical texts. This contrasts with the standard approach where people simply read the dense aphorisms in terms of whatever theory they already believe. The prevalence of this methodology (of explanation by way of what one believes, which is called interpretation) is a problem: as I point out in my work, it is subjective and irrational, but ubiquitous. My approach to reading and translation philosophy is based on a contrary method that employs the essence of logic, or validity (called explication) and the result are new scholarly contributions to our appreciation of the philosophy of Yoga, which is a distinctive philosophical option. Moreover, as I am a historian of philosophies of meditation from the Asian tradition (not just Yoga, but also Jainism, and Buddhist philosophies from South Asia and East Asia) my approach is also informed by history. Finally, as I am a philosopher I understand the relevance of the practice of yoga as Patañjali describes it and philosophy not only because I understand the contribution Patañjali makes to philosophy but also how philosophy itself is a yoga (discipline) that furthers the aims of yoga. Just like music, philosophy is something anyone can do with the appropriate instruction and practice, but it doesn’t follow that everyone is a musician because they can play a tune, nor dose it follow that everyone is knowledgeable to teach the philosophy of Yoga because they have a philosophy of yoga. A good teacher of music teaches one how to be a musician. Similarly, a good teacher of philosophy, Patañjali’s too, has to teach how to be a philosopher. My goal in teaching the philosophy of Yoga is to help students in the development of their own philosophical autonomy (kaivalya). The goal of Yoga, and this project, is to help students live a life that reflects who they are, not a life that reflects other people’s goals and ambitions.
