Category: Participating Scholars

I co-launched the global-critical philosophy of religion seminar for the American Academy of Religion in 2015, and have co-directed it since then. My interests in GCPR thus far include (1) rethinking the categories for global PR, which I do in the textbook, (2) carrying out ongoing “exercises” in comparative PR, which I do through the lecture series and Springer publications, and (3) engaging in the comparative study of “ineffability discourses,” which will be the subject of my next monograph. My monograph sketches a method and theory for comparative PR, and I am currently completing an undergraduate textbook in GCPR.

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My research has taken me across the world to the study of Advaita Vedānta, an Indic philosophy of non-dualism that claims that the self is of the nature of infinite, immutable, immortal, universal consciousness. I have found it to be, the more I have studied, a potentially fruitful philosophical enterprise. It provides a radical alternative to contemporary ideas of the self as individualized and differentiated, and is worthy of critical study as a global philosophy. My aim is to understand, articulate, and critique its positions on the self, the world, and God. Being involved in global-critical philosophy of religion is my way of helping this philosophy critically engage with other philosophies of religion around the world in forums where it otherwise lives on the sidelines.

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My research focuses on the traditions of East Asia, especially the time period of China’s Song and Ming dynasties. My teaching commitments over the years have pushed me to engage more material from religious studies, including work from anthropology of religion, history of religion, sociology, and theology. These teaching activities in turn pushed my scholarship toward  the question of the construction of the categories “philosophy” and “religion” in European intellectual history. My current involvement in global-critical philosophy of religion reflects both my philosophical and meta-philosophical interests in, and commitments to, diversifying the practices of academic philosophy.

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I am an independent scholar-educator and translator with specific interests in contemplative practice, embodiment, and mystical experience. My research develops a revisionist understanding of Daoism (Taoism) as an indigenous Chinese religious community from the beginning, characterized by an emphasis on cultivating and embodying the Dao 道 (Tao/Way), the sacred and ultimate concern of Daoists. This work includes an explicit critique of the category of “philosophy” as conventionally understood and applied to Daoism, especially as an (unconscious) means of appropriation, domestication and legitimation rooted in colonialist, missionary, and Orientalist legacies.

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I am interested in the idea that multiple religious traditions disclose truth by means of metaphysical claims, efficacious practice, and moral exemplars. Given the differences and frequent incompatibility between truth-disclosures in religions, I wonder at the source of that difference. I wonder if one can determine whether religions diverge due to linguistic-cultural contingencies or a difference in sacred object. I propose that critical comparison of religions according to rational criteria allows for judgments to be made between competing religious truth claims. The classroom is the perfect laboratory for practicing, as students encounter unfamiliar religious expression, struggle to come to terms with it, and place their own views in critical relation to it.

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My activity in research and teaching on Jainism and other South Asian philosophico-religious traditions is conceived as part of a broader reflection to build a cosmopolitan framework for dialogue between potentially diverse views. This notably involves decolonizing the curriculum, acknowledging the importance of minority traditions in world philosophy and philosophy of religion, as well as investigating South Asian philosophico-religious traditions, which offer innovative approaches to engage with the other and to negotiate situations in which one is confronted with opposing views.

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Nathan Eric Dickman (PhD, The University of Iowa) is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of the Ozarks. He researches in hermeneutic phenomenology, philosophy of language, and comparative questions in philosophies of religions, with particular concerns about global social justice issues in ethics and religions. He has taught a breadth of courses, from Critical Thinking to Zen, and Existentialism to Greek & Arabic philosophy. His book titled “Using Questions to Think” (Bloomsbury, 2021) examines the roles questions play in critical thinking and reasoning, his book titled “Philosophical Hermeneutics and the Priority of Questions in Religions” (Bloomsbury, 2022) examines the roles questions play in religious discourse, and his book titled “Interpretation: A Critical Primer” (Equinox, 2023) examines the role of questions in the interpretation of texts.

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Several years ago, a Native colleague of mine recommended me for this project. It fits well with my interests in Indigenous worldviews and, more specifically, my research and writings on Native American Nations. Teaching at a small college, I have a wide-range of responsibilities, included among them are most of my department’s non-Western courses (as we designate them). The project affords me the great pleasure of entering into dialogue with experts in the fields covered by the wide range of course I teach, including Asian and African religions.

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My teaching and research interests encompass philosophy of religion, Indian philosophy, religious studies, theology, literary studies, and Wittgenstein studies. My contributions to the Global-Critical Philosophy of Religion Project include a chapter on “Ethnographically Informed Philosophy of Religion in a Study of Assamese Goddess Worship” in the volume Global-Critical Philosophy of Religion: Perspectives and Approaches. In recent work, I exemplify an interdisciplinary approach to the philosophy of religion that he terms radical pluralism. I am especially interested in the use of narrative sources, poetry, and other art forms to expand the scope of philosophy of religion.

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I define the primary sense of philosophy of religion as the work of more universal philosophers who have something interesting to say about religion, for instance, Hume, Kant, Hegel, Whitehead, Dewey, Tu Weiming, and Cheng Chungying. In the contemporary sense, philosophy of religion is based on a comparative understanding of East Asian, South Asian, West Asian, Native American, and African religions.

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