Sara McClintock

This proposal is to complete work on a book project on the transactional nature of truth in the works of two eighth-century Indian Buddhist philosophers, Santaraksita and Kamalasila. The aim is to elucidate the epistemological theories of these historically important figures while also engaging their ideas in connection with contemporary philosophy and ethics. These thinkers propose that all forms of knowledge and even truth itself are produced through transactions conditioned by a range of factors. As such they are neither completely illusory nor ultimately real. This book uses their theories to argue for the necessity of recognizing the ethical dimensions of all epistemological practices, including scientific research that takes Buddhist meditation practices as its focus in modernity.