Jewel of Reflection on the Truth about Epistemology

Gangésa’s Jewel of Reflection is a classic of world philosophy. It is one of the most important and extensive treatises on epistemology ever composed, and dominates the Indian philosophical scene since its composition in the 14th century. The text addresses every epistemological issue and position then current in India, and does so in great detail. It is impossible to understand the subsequent history of philosophy without studying it. Stephen Philips has produced a masterpiece: a complete translation of the text that is philologically precise, philosophically sensitive, and absolutely lucid and readable by any Anglophone philosopher. If you are an epistemologist or a student of Indian philosophy, there is no excuse not to read. * Jay L Garfield, Doris Silbert Professor of Humanities, Smith College and the Harvard Divinity School, USA *In this magnificent feat of scholarship, Stephen Phillips brings to a diverse readership a subtle, sophisticated, and technically precise translation of one of the most significant texts of pre-modern Indian philosophy. Sanskritists and historians of Indian ideas, comparative philosophers working with Indian materials, and Western analytic philosophers interested in opening up the cultural sources of technical philosophy , will all find much to learn from this translation. Phillips is right that this work should take its rightful place in global philosophy as a work of great depth and originality; and his translation should ensure that new philosophical projects are influenced by access to it. * Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad FBA, Distinguished Professor of Comparative Religion and Philosophy, Lancaster University, UK *This monumental work makes Gangesa’s dense and intricate masterpiece accessible to a general philosophical audience. The translation is remarkably readable, and the commentary carefully sets the arguments into the context of the complex interscholastic disputes within the Indian tradition, while explaining them in terms that will be readily comprehensible to analytic philosophers. It has the potential to transform contemporary discussions in epistemology by opening a window into a philosophical tradition that has been too long neglected. * Joel S. Feldman, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Rider University, USA *

Stephen Phillips is Professor of Philosophy and Asian Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, USA, and has been Visiting Professor of Philosophy at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, and at Jadavpur University, Kolkata. He is the author and or co-author of eight books including Yoga, Karma, and Rebirth: A Brief History and Philosophy (2009), Epistemology in Classical India: The Knowledge Sources of the Nyaya School (2012), and (with Matthew Dasti) The Nyaya-sutra: Selections with Early Commentaries (2018).