Alan Watts - In the Academy
Essays and Lectures
Published on 1. July 2017
Book
Hardback
390 pages
978-1-4384-6555-5 (ISBN)
Description
Explores language and mysticism, Buddhism and Zen, Christianity, comparative religion, psychedelics, and psychology and psychotherapy.
Gold Winner, 2017 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards in the Philosophy category
To commemorate the 2015 centenary of the birth of Alan Watts (1915-1973), Peter J. Columbus and Donadrian L. Rice have assembled a much-needed collection of Watts's scholarly essays and lectures. Compiled from professional journals, monographs, scholarly books, conferences, and symposia proceedings, the volume sheds valuable light on the developmental arc of Watts's thinking about language and mysticism, Buddhism and Zen, Christianity, comparative religion, psychedelics, and psychology and psychotherapy. This definitive collection challenges Watts's reputation as a "popularizer" or "philosophical entertainer," revealing his concerns to be much more expansive and transdisciplinary than is suggested by the parochial "Zen Buddhist" label commonly affixed to his writings. The editors' authoritative introduction elucidates contemporary perspectives on Watts's life and work, and supports a bold rethinking of his contributions to psychology, philosophy, and religion.
Gold Winner, 2017 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards in the Philosophy category
To commemorate the 2015 centenary of the birth of Alan Watts (1915-1973), Peter J. Columbus and Donadrian L. Rice have assembled a much-needed collection of Watts's scholarly essays and lectures. Compiled from professional journals, monographs, scholarly books, conferences, and symposia proceedings, the volume sheds valuable light on the developmental arc of Watts's thinking about language and mysticism, Buddhism and Zen, Christianity, comparative religion, psychedelics, and psychology and psychotherapy. This definitive collection challenges Watts's reputation as a "popularizer" or "philosophical entertainer," revealing his concerns to be much more expansive and transdisciplinary than is suggested by the parochial "Zen Buddhist" label commonly affixed to his writings. The editors' authoritative introduction elucidates contemporary perspectives on Watts's life and work, and supports a bold rethinking of his contributions to psychology, philosophy, and religion.
Reviews / Votes
"The editors of this book have clearly devoted a great deal of energy to selecting more than thirty relatively academic talks and essays out of Watts' enormous body of work. Many of the selections are fairly obscure, but all are worthy of consideration." - Nova Religio"...both academically and historically rich." - PsycCRITIQUES
"This collection, testament to an astonishingly productive writing and speaking career, serves as a window into an extraordinarily significant era, when Asian traditions and non-theological forays into religion were largely unknown in the academy. Watts's outsider status is firmly established, but his contributions to academic life and thought deserve to be acknowledged and celebrated." - Reading Religion
"This excellent volume is important in establishing Watts as perhaps the most important Western thinker and writer on Eastern religions and philosophy, as well as comparative religions, of the twentieth century." - John W. Traphagan, author of Rethinking Autonomy: A Critique of Principlism in Biomedical Ethics
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Albany, NY
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
US School Grade: College Graduate Student and over
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
18 Figures
Dimensions
Height: 236 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 32 mm
Weight
669 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4384-6555-5 (9781438465555)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
04/2017
1st Edition
De Gruyter
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Persons
Peter J. Columbus is Administrator of the Shantigar Foundation in Rowe, Massachusetts. Donadrian L. Rice is Professor of Psychology at the University of West Georgia. Together they are the coeditors of Alan Watts-Here and Now: Contributions to Psychology, Philosophy, and Religion, also published by SUNY Press.
Content
List of Illustrations
Editors' Preface
Introduction: Alan Watts and the Academic Enterprise
Peter J. Columbus and Donadrian L. Rice
Part I: Language and Mysticism
1. On the Meaning and Relation of Absolute and Relative (1950)
2. The Negative Way (1951)
3. The Language of Metaphysical Experience: The Sense of Non-Sense (1953)
4. On Philosophical Synthesis (1953)
5. Philosophy beyond Words (1975)
Part II: Buddhism and Zen
6. The Problem of Faith and Works in Buddhism (1941).
7. Zen (1948)
8. The Way of Liberation in Zen Buddhism (1955)
9. Beat Zen, Square Zen, and Zen (1958)
10. Zen and Politics (1962)
11. Prefatory Essay to Suzuki's Outlines of Mahayana Buddhism (1963)
Part III: Christianity
12. Theologia Mystica (1944)
13. The Case for God (1946)
14. The Meaning of Priesthood (1946)
15. The Christian Doctrine of Marriage (1946)
Part IV: Comparative Religion
16. Worship in Sacrament and Silence (1964/1971)
17. Western Mythology: Its Dissolution and Transformation (1970)
18. The Future of Religion (1970)
19. Unity in Contemplation (1974)
Part V: Psychedelics
20. The Individual as Man/World (1963)
21. A Psychedelic Experience: Fact or Fantasy? (1964)
22. Psychedelics and Religious Experience (1968)
23. Ordinary Mind is the Way (1971)
Part VI: Psychology and Psychotherapy
24. Asian Psychology and Modern Psychiatry (1953)
25. Convention, Conflict, and Liberation: Further Observations on Asian Psychology and Modern Psychiatry (1956)
26. Eternity as the Unrepressed Body (1959)
27. Oriental and Occidental Approaches to the Nature of Man (1962)
28. The Woman in Man (1963)
29. An Interview with Alan Watts (with Philip D. Ungerer) (1969)
30. Psychotherapy and Eastern Religion: Metaphysical Bases of Psychiatry (1974)
Appendix A
List of Contributors
Index
Editors' Preface
Introduction: Alan Watts and the Academic Enterprise
Peter J. Columbus and Donadrian L. Rice
Part I: Language and Mysticism
1. On the Meaning and Relation of Absolute and Relative (1950)
2. The Negative Way (1951)
3. The Language of Metaphysical Experience: The Sense of Non-Sense (1953)
4. On Philosophical Synthesis (1953)
5. Philosophy beyond Words (1975)
Part II: Buddhism and Zen
6. The Problem of Faith and Works in Buddhism (1941).
7. Zen (1948)
8. The Way of Liberation in Zen Buddhism (1955)
9. Beat Zen, Square Zen, and Zen (1958)
10. Zen and Politics (1962)
11. Prefatory Essay to Suzuki's Outlines of Mahayana Buddhism (1963)
Part III: Christianity
12. Theologia Mystica (1944)
13. The Case for God (1946)
14. The Meaning of Priesthood (1946)
15. The Christian Doctrine of Marriage (1946)
Part IV: Comparative Religion
16. Worship in Sacrament and Silence (1964/1971)
17. Western Mythology: Its Dissolution and Transformation (1970)
18. The Future of Religion (1970)
19. Unity in Contemplation (1974)
Part V: Psychedelics
20. The Individual as Man/World (1963)
21. A Psychedelic Experience: Fact or Fantasy? (1964)
22. Psychedelics and Religious Experience (1968)
23. Ordinary Mind is the Way (1971)
Part VI: Psychology and Psychotherapy
24. Asian Psychology and Modern Psychiatry (1953)
25. Convention, Conflict, and Liberation: Further Observations on Asian Psychology and Modern Psychiatry (1956)
26. Eternity as the Unrepressed Body (1959)
27. Oriental and Occidental Approaches to the Nature of Man (1962)
28. The Woman in Man (1963)
29. An Interview with Alan Watts (with Philip D. Ungerer) (1969)
30. Psychotherapy and Eastern Religion: Metaphysical Bases of Psychiatry (1974)
Appendix A
List of Contributors
Index