David Kalupahana

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David J. Kalupahana
Born1936
University of Hawaii
Doctoral advisorK. N. Jayatilleke
Notable studentsP. D. Premasiri

David J. Kalupahana (1936–2014) was a

Wittgenstein. He wrote mainly about epistemology
, theory of language, and compared later Buddhist philosophical texts against the earliest texts and tried to present interpretations that were both historically contextualised and also compatible with the earliest texts, and in doing so, he encouraged Theravada Buddhists and scholars to reevaluate the legitimacy of later, Mahayana texts and consider them more sympathetically.

Biography

Born in

School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London where he completed a Ph.D. dissertation on the problem of causality in the Pali Nikayas and Chinese Agamas
in 1966.

He left the

University of Hawaii
, serving as the Chairman of the Department of Philosophy and Chairman of the Graduate Field in Philosophy (1974–80). He directed international intra-religious conferences on Buddhism, and on Buddhism and Peace.

Many of his books are published and widely available in India (by Motilal Banarsidass and others), and therefore presumably have a fairly significant influence on the fields of Buddhism and Buddhist Studies in India and other nearby South Asian countries, such as his native Sri Lanka.

Publications

References

  1. ^ de Silvas, Nissanka (2013). Me Mahinda Shasthra Shala: Ma Dutu Mahindaya. Print House Sri Lanka. p. 238.

Further reading

  • Tilakaratne, Asanga (2014). "Professor David Jinadasa Kalupahana (1936–2014)". Philosophy East and West. 64 (3): 520–522.
    S2CID 170555920
    .

External links