Research Catalog

Title

Spiritual Titanism : Indian, Chinese, and Western perspectives / Nicholas F. Gier.

Author

Gier, Nicholas F., 1944-

Publication

Albany, NY : State University of New York Press, ©2000.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xxvi, 302 pages; 24 cm.

Summary

• "This work in comparative philosophy uses the concept of Titanism to critique certain trends in both Eastern and Western philosophy. Titanism is an extreme form of humanism in which human beings take on divine attributes and prerogatives. The author finds the most explicit forms of spiritual Titanism in the Jaina, Samkhya, and Yoga traditions, where yogis claim powers and knowledge that in the West are only attributed to God. These philosophies are also radically dualistic, and liberation involves a complete transcendence of the body, society, and nature. Five types of spiritual Titanism are identified; and, in addition to this typology, a heuristic based on Nietzsche's three metamorphoses of camel, lion, and child is offered.
• The book determines that answers to spiritual Titanism begin not only with the Hindu Goddess religion, but also are found in Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism, especially Zen Buddhism and Confucianism."--Jacket.

Series Statement

SUNY series in constructive postmodern thought

Uniform Title

SUNY series in constructive postmodern thought

Subjects

• Hinduism
• Religions
• Philosophy, Comparative
• Superman (Philosophical concept)
• Religion > Philosophy
• Vergleichende Religionswissenschaft
• Übermensch
• Hindu philosophy
• religions (belief systems, cultures)

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 283-293) and index.

Contents

The Titans: Superhuman and Superdivine -- Uttaravada versus Avataravada -- Nietzsche's Ubermensch Not a Titan -- Titanism in the West -- Humanism and Superhumanism -- Existentialism and Titanism -- Christian Titanism and the Incarnation -- Western Answers to Titanism -- The Self and Constructive Postmodernism -- Premodernism, Modernism, and Postmodernism -- Hebraic and Buddhist Skandhas -- Problems with Indian Dualisms -- A Critique of Advaita Vedanta -- A Buddhist Dialectic of Reconstruction -- Prometheus East: Greek and Hindu Titans -- Asura Titanism -- Human Titans in the Puranas -- Titans and Olympians -- Jaina Superhumanism and Gnostic Titanism -- Jaina Colossi and the Cosmic Man -- The Status of the Jaina Gods -- Man Is God and Homo Mensura -- Omniscience: Mahavira and the Buddha -- Anekantavada and Gnostic Titanism -- Panzooism, Mind-Body, and Process Philosophy -- Hindu Titanism -- Types of Indian Titanism -- Yoga Titanism -- The Purusa Hymn and its Legacy -- The Purusa as Cosmic Yogi -- Monism, Ecology, and Titanism -- The Yogi and the Goddess -- Prologue: The Dancing Goddess -- The Material Principle: East and West -- The Goddess in Indian Philosophy -- Puranic Expressions of the Goddess -- Kurtz's Psychoanalytic Interpretation -- Does the Goddess Speak with a Woman's Voice? -- Epilogue: The Triumph of the Goddess -- Neo-Vedanta and Aurobindo's Superman -- Ramakrishna: Kali's Child -- Vivekananda's "Manly" Neo-Vedanta -- Supermind, Superman, and Supernature -- Buddhism, Humanism, and Titanism -- Buddhist Humanism.

ISBN

• 0791445275
• 9780791445273
• 0791445283
• 9780791445280

LCCN

99038494

OCLC

• ocm42603075
• 42603075
• SCSB-1035023

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library