About Malcolm Keating

Malcolm Keating is Visiting Associate Professor of Philosophy at Smith College. His research focuses on Sanskrit works of philosophy in Indian traditions, in the areas of language and epistemology. He is the author of Language, Meaning, and Use in Indian Philosophy (Bloomsbury Press, 2019) and host of the podcast Sutras & Stuff.

Malcolm Keating is Visiting Associate Professor of Philosophy at Smith College. His research focuses on Sanskrit works of philosophy in Indian traditions, in the areas of language and epistemology. He is the author of Language, Meaning, and Use in Indian Philosophy (Bloomsbury Press, 2019) and host of the podcast Sutras & Stuff.

Malcolm's website

NBN Episodes hosted by Malcolm:

Stephen Phillips, "The Metaphysics of Meditation: Sri Aurobindo and Adi-Sakara on the Isa Upanisad" (Bloombury, 2024)

March 20, 2024

The Metaphysics of Meditation

Stephen Phillips
Hosted by Malcolm Keating

In The Metaphysics of Meditation: Sri Aurobindo and Ādi Śaṅkara on the Īśā Upaniṣad (Bloomsbury 2024), Stephen Phillips argues that the two titular Ve…

Jan Westerhoff, "Candrakirti's Introduction to the Middle Way: A Guide" (Oxford UP, 2023)

January 20, 2024

Candrakirti's Introduction to the Middle Way

Jan Westerhoff
Hosted by Malcolm Keating

A proponent of the Madhyamaka tradition of Mahāyāna Buddhism, Candrakīrti wrote several works, one of which, the Madhamakāvatāra, strongly influenced …

Tyler Dalton McNabb and Erik Baldwin, "Classical Theism and Buddhism: Connecting Metaphysical and Ethical Systems" (Bloomsbury, 2023)

December 20, 2023

Classical Theism and Buddhism

Tyler Dalton McNabb and Erik Baldwin
Hosted by Malcolm Keating

In addition to denying the existence of a substantial, enduring self, Buddhists are usually understood to deny the existence of a God or gods. However…

Yigal Bronner, "A Lasting Vision: Dandin's Mirror in the World of Asian Letters" (Oxford UP, 2023)

November 4, 2023

A Lasting Vision

Yigal Bronner
Hosted by Malcolm Keating

A Lasting Vision: Dandin's Mirror in the World of Asian Letters (Oxford University Press, 2023) is a collaborative, interdisciplinary volume that intr…

Chris Fraser, "Late Classical Chinese Thought" (Oxford UP, 2023)

October 20, 2023

Late Classical Chinese Thought

Chris Fraser
Hosted by Malcolm Keating

Late Classical Chinese Thought (Oxford University Press, 2023) is Chris Fraser's topically organized study of the Warring States period of Chinese phi…

Matthew R. Dasti, "Vatsyayana's Commentary on the Nyaya-Sutra: A Guide" (Oxford UP, 2023)

September 20, 2023

Vatsyayana's Commentary on the Nyaya-Sutra

Matthew R. Dasti
Hosted by Malcolm Keating
Listen:

In Vatsyayana's Commentary on the Nyaya-Sutra: A Guide (Oxford University Press, 2023), Matthew Dasti unpacks a canonical classical Indian text, the N…

Piers Kelly, "The Last Language on Earth: Linguistic Utopianism in the Philippines" (Oxford UP, 2021)

September 19, 2023

The Last Language on Earth

Piers Kelly
Hosted by Malcolm Keating
Listen:

In the southern Philippines, the Bohol community speaks a language they say one man, Pinay, created long ago, leaving it for a modern Filipino named M…

Arvind-Pal Singh Mandair, "Sikh Philosophy: Exploring Gurmat Concepts in a Decolonizing World" (Bloomsbury, 2022)

June 20, 2023

Sikh Philosophy

Arvind-Pal Singh Mandair
Hosted by Malcolm Keating
Listen:

In his new contribution to the Bloomsbury Introductions to World Philosophies, Sikh Philosophy: Exploring Gurmat Concepts in a Decolonizing World (Blo…

Eberhard Guhe, "An Indian Theory of Defeasible Reasoning: The Doctrine of Upādhi in the Upādhidarpaṇa" (Harvard UP, 2022)

April 20, 2023

An Indian Theory of Defeasible Reasoning

Eberhard Guhe
Hosted by Malcolm Keating

An Indian Theory of Defeasible Reasoning: The Doctrine of upādhi in the Upādhidarpaṇa (Harvard University Press, 2022) is the first translation of thi…

Philippe Schlenker, "What It All Means: Semantics for (Almost) Everything" (MIT Press, 2022)

February 25, 2023

What It All Means

Philippe Schlenker
Hosted by Malcolm Keating

In What It All Means: Semantics for (Almost) Everything (MIT Press, 2022), Philippe Schlenker takes readers on tour of meaning, from the animal kingdo…

Monima Chadha, "Selfless Minds: A Contemporary Perspective on Vasubandhu's Metaphysics" (Oxford UP, 2022)

February 20, 2023

Selfless Minds

Monima Chadha
Hosted by Malcolm Keating

Buddhists are famous for their thesis that selves do not exist. But if they are right, what would that thesis mean for our apparent sense of self and …

Charles Goodman, "The Tattvasaṃgraha Of Śāntarakṣita: Selected Metaphysical Chapters" (Oxford UP, 2022)

November 21, 2022

The Tattvasaṃgraha Of Śāntarakṣita

Charles Goodman
Hosted by Malcolm Keating

The Tattvasaṃgraha of Śāntarakṣita: Selected Metaphysical Chapters (Oxford University Press, 2022) collects excerpts from a massive encyclopedic work …

Nirmalangshu Mukherji, "The Human Mind Through the Lens of Language: Generative Explorations" (Bloomsbury, 2022)

October 27, 2022

The Human Mind Through the Lens of Language

Nirmalangshu Mukherji
Hosted by Malcolm Keating

Some time, millenia ago, people began using sounds: to coordinate, to solve problems, to think. Explaining this leap—from non-linguistic beings to lan…

Leah Kalmanson, "Cross-Cultural Existentialism: On the Meaning of Life in Asian and Western Thought" (Bloomsbury, 2020)

October 20, 2022

Cross-Cultural Existentialism

Leah Kalmanson
Hosted by Malcolm Keating

Does human existence have a meaning? If so, is that meaning found in the world outside of us, or is it something we bring to our experience? In Cross-…

Pascah Mungwini, "African Philosophy: Emancipation and Practice" (Bloomsbury, 2022)

August 19, 2022

African Philosophy

Pascah Mungwini
Hosted by Malcolm Keating

In African Philosophy: Emancipation and Practice (Bloomsbury, 2022), Pascah Mungwini considers the history of African philosophy in relationship to wo…

Mark Siderits, "How Things Are: An Introduction to Buddhist Metaphysics" (Oxford UP, 2021)

June 20, 2022

How Things Are

Mark Siderits
Hosted by Malcolm Keating

Mark Siderits’ How Things Are: An Introduction to Buddhist Metaphysics (Oxford University Press, 2022) is a wide-ranging survey of how Buddhist philos…

Priyambada Sarkar, "Language, Limits, and Beyond: Early Wittgenstein and Rabindranath Tagore" (Oxford UP, 2021)

April 20, 2022

Language, Limits, and Beyond

Priyambada Sarkar
Hosted by Malcolm Keating

What does a Bengali intellectual and poet have in common with a British-Austrian logician and philosopher? In Language, Limits, and Beyond: Early Witt…

N. J. Enfield, "Language Vs. Reality: Why Language Is Good for Lawyers and Bad for Scientists" (MIT Press, 2022)

March 23, 2022

Language Vs. Reality

N. J. Enfield
Hosted by Malcolm Keating

Nick Enfield’s book, Language vs. Reality: Why Language is Good for Lawyers and Bad for Scientists (MIT Press, 2022), argues that language is primaril…

Jay L. Garfield, "Buddhist Ethics: A Philosophical Exploration" (Oxford UP, 2021)

February 21, 2022

Buddhist Ethics

Jay L. Garfield
Hosted by Malcolm Keating

In Buddhist Ethics: A Philosophical Exploration (Oxford University Press, 2022), Jay Garfield argues that Buddhist ethics is a distinctive kind of mor…

Erin M. Cline, "The Analects: A Guide" (Oxford UP, 2021)

January 20, 2022

The Analects: A Guide

Erin M. Cline
Hosted by Malcolm Keating

Probably the most well-known Chinese philosopher around the world is Kongzi, typically called by his Latinized name, “Confucius.” And yet he did not w…

James Garrison, "Reconsidering the Life of Power: Ritual, Body, and Art in Critical Theory and Chinese Philosophy" (SUNY Press, 2021)

November 19, 2021

Reconsidering the Life of Power

James Garrison
Hosted by Malcolm Keating

Reconsidering the Life of Power: Ritual, Body, and Art in Critical Theory and Chinese Philosophy by James Garrison (SUNY Press 2021), argues that the …

Herman Cappelen and Josh Dever, "Making AI Intelligible: Philosophical Foundations" (Oxford UP, 2021)

November 3, 2021

Making AI Intelligible

Herman Cappelen and Josh Dever
Hosted by Malcolm Keating

In their open-access publication, Making AI Intelligible: Philosophical Foundations (Oxford University Press, 2021), Herman Cappelen and Josh Dever ar…

Henning Trüper, "Orientalism, Philology, and the Illegibility of the Modern World" (Bloomsbury, 2020)

October 6, 2021

Orientalism, Philology, and the Illegibility of the Modern World

Henning Trüper
Hosted by Malcolm Keating

At the turn of the nineteenth century, European philologists were engaged in the study of Semitic languages and Indology, breaking with the past in ma…

Stephen Phillips, "Jewel of Reflection on the Truth about Epistemology: A Complete and Annotated Translation of the Tattva-cintā-maṇi" (Bloomsbury, 2020)

September 20, 2021

Jewel of Reflection on the Truth about Epistemology

Stephen Phillips (trans.)
Hosted by Malcolm Keating

In the first complete English translation of a monumental 14th century Sanskrit philosophical text, the Jewel of Reflection on the Truth about Epistem…