Developmental ideas and models concerning family life have been disseminated widely around the world where they have become forces for both ideational and behavioral change. In this paper, we examine the ways in which ideas about marriage have been influenced by these ideas of development in Nepal, where, for centuries, young age at marriage, arranged marriage, and polygamy have been common pra...

1. The Problem I begin with a gloomy observation on monastic education by Phra Prayud Payutto (1939) of Thailan whom Tambiah calls "a brilliant scholar-monk" [1]. Payutto said in 1984: "The present state of m education is similar to a sky which has some spots of sunshine, but is in fact full of cloud. The sky is n clear. When monks themselves see the dull and overcast sky they may feel disheart...

In the last fifty years or so, since Yogācāra texts have been available to western academics, there has been a debate as to how Yogācāra Buddhism should be interpreted. This article seeks to establish that Yogācāra Buddhism is most properly interpreted as an idealist school of Buddhist thought. Specifically, it challenges the arguments that have been put forth in recent years that suggest a phe...

In the ‘Refutation of Idealism’ chapter of the first ‘Critique’, Kant argues that the conditions required for having certain kinds of mental episodes are sufficient to guarantee that there are ‘objects in space’ outside us. A perennially influential way of reading this compressed argument is as a kind of causal inference: in order for us to make justified judgements about the order of our inner...

For many Rice students, tomorrow will be their first chance to participate in a presidential election. Yet a large number of people are still undecided; and many don't wish to support any of the candidates that are running for the presidency of the United States. The campaign has dealt little with issues and specifics. More important have been the public images of each candidate, his views on m...

According to causal idealism, causation is a product of human mental activity in a world lacking a mind-independent causal relation. The view is historically popular. Collingwood (1938) held that causal questions are essentially epistemological rather than ontological. Russell (1913) held that there was no role for causation in fundamental physics. And insofar as Hume famously took causation to...

Modern Idealism, if it asserts any general conclusion about the universe at all, asserts that it is spiritual. There are two points about this assertion to which I wish to call attention. These points are that, whatever be its exact meaning, it is certainly meant to assert (1) that the universe is very different indeed from what it seems, and (2) that it has quite a large number of properties w...