DoctorSonam Thakchoe

Expertise

Sonam's contributions to UTAS are also demonstrably significant and ground-breaking, manifested through the evidence of excellence, scholarship, and the significance of his performance in all three key academic activities. His initiatives in research and teaching activities at UTAS have significantly changed research, teaching and learning practices. His contribution to HDR supervision at UTAS has also been substantial. Promising research students have graduated from UTAS who worked closely under his supervision, specialising in Asian philosophical projects. He has significantly succeeded in changing the research culture of the postgraduate community of Philosophy at UTAS into a more cross-cultural, interdisciplinary and inclusive environment.

He is an experienced and productive research scholar in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist philosophy with a good record of accomplishment in research that includes preparation of scholarly translations, the historical and philosophical study of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist texts, cross-cultural philosophy and analyses that bring together Indian, Tibetan and Western philosophies. Since his appointment at UTAS in 2003, he has produced 43 publications with seven books, many book chapters, dozens of articles and encyclopaedia entries, published in some of the leading academic presses and journals: Oxford University Press, Wisdom Publications, Journal of Philosophy East-West, Journal of Indian philosophy, and the Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy.

His research initiatives and teaching projects have attracted substantial external funding ($437,777). He is productive both as an independent researcher and as a member of collaborative teams of international scholars. His books received excellent reviews and have been cited in other publications, as have his journal articles. His first single-authored book, The Two Truths Debate: Tsongkhapa and Gorampa on the Middle Way (2007), was nominated for the Best First Book Prize by the American Academy of Religion, demonstrating its academic impact. His latest book, The Two Truths in Indian Buddhism: Reality, Knowledge and Freedom (2023), has been commissioned to be translated into Russian.

His contributions both as an independent researcher and collaborative researcher indicate his research projects further intellectual engagement between Indian, Tibetan and Western philosophers centred on some of the most significant and productive philosophical controversies in Indo-Tibetan academic circles. His research advances the interactions between Western and Indo-Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, bringing to attention texts and arguments otherwise not available to the Western philosophical world but that are of immediate interest for current debates in global philosophy. His research skills include the preparation of scholarly translations, close analysis of Indo-Tibetan philosophical materials, cross-cultural philosophy that brings together Indian, Tibetan and Western philosophy, and research in Indian epistemology, ethics, Buddhist logic and philosophy of mind.

He works closely with Professor Powers (Deakin University) and Professor Garfield (Smith College, Harvard Divinity School) on all aspects of the research, including translation, critical editing, philosophical analysis and writing the papers and books that will emerge from this research. He takes particular responsibility for comparing editions of Tibetan texts, developing an account of intertextual links, assessing arguments with reference to Tibetan Buddhist philosophical traditions and applying Tibetan hermeneutical techniques to their interpretation.

Sonam has a wide range of research interests and expertise in Indian and Tibetan philosophies:


Western Philosophy of Mind, Ethics, Metaphysics, Epistemology, Phenomenology
Indian Philosophy, History and Hermeneutics
Tibetan Philosophy, History and Hermeneutics
Buddhist philosophy, Phenomenology of Mindfulness, Philosophy of Mind, Madhyamaka
Cross-cultural philosophy that brings together Indian, Tibetan and Western philosophy
Indo-Tibetan epistemology, ethics, logic, and philosophy of mind



Sonam collaborated with an international research team—the Cowherds—comprised of leading philosophers and scholars from around the world at various institutions, including the University of Melbourne (Australia), University of Auckland (New Zealand, University of Lausanne (Switzerland), Smith College (USA), Central Michigan University (USA), Central University of Tibetan Studies (India), Durham University (UK), Australian National University and University of Tasmania (Australia). He co-authored two book polygraphs with the Cowherds :

Moonshadows: Conventional Truths (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2011) and
Moonpaths: Ethics and Emptiness (Oxford: Oxford University, 2015).



Collaborated with Professor John Powers and Professor Jay L. Garfield on a four-year ARC Discovery grant (DP110102042 $540,000, “Negotiating Modernity: Buddhism in Tibet and China”). This project involved a team of academics from around the world who specialise in Tibetan, Chinese and Sanskrit literature: Sonam Thakchoe (University of Tasmania), John Powers (ANU), Jay L. Garfield (Smith College), Douglas Duckworth (Temple University), and David Eckel (Boston University), Yeshi Thabkhas (Central University of Higher Tibetan Studies). Our main output was a polygraph, Dignāga’s Investigation of The Percept (Ālambana-Parīkṣā) and Its Philosophical Legacy in India And Tibet (Oxford University Press 2016).

The book was well received. “[A]n overall outstanding contribution to the study of Dignāga's Yogācāra philosophy and its Tibetan reception in the Dge lugs pa school. The present monograph will be a starting point for any future study of the Tibetan reception of the Investigation of the Percept.” (Reading Religion) “This work beautifully exemplifies how collaborative work can result in a product of higher quality than any of the scholars might have produced individually. The careful philosophical analysis of Dignāga’s Ālambanaparīkṣā and its commentaries shows that there were several ways of interpreting Dignāga's laconic presentation. Because of its thoroughness, this study is sure to be a durable standard work to be consulted for generations to come.” (Richard P. Hayes, University of New Mexico)

Sonam teamed up as a Chief Investigator on the second ARC-Discovery project (ID: DP160100947; “A Buddhist Debate and Contemporary Relevance”, $414,000, 2016-2021) with Professor Powers (CI) and Professor Garfield (PI), and other “the Yakherds:” Prof José Cabezón, University of California, Santa Barbara; Prof Tashi Tsering, Dean of Sakya Studies at CUTS; Jed Forman (University of California, Berkeley); and Ryan Conlon (Heidelberg University).

They studied central debates in Tibetan Buddhist philosophy concerning truth, realism and epistemic justification, initiated by Taktsang Lotsāwa’s critiques of Tsongkhapa’s Madhyamaka, in which he charged that the latter’s interpretation suffers from “eighteen great burdens of contradiction”. Their work explores the implications of this debate for subsequent Tibetan thought and for contemporary Western analytic philosophy. The main output was two research polygraphs that begin with precursors of the Tibetan debates in India in the first volume. They then move to early Tibetan work that picks up on and extends the Indic material. The second volume contains translations of the major Tibetan treatises in this debate and will be published by Oxford University Press in 2021:

Knowing Illusion: Bringing a Tibetan Debate into Contemporary Discourse. Vol. I: Critical Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press (2020)
Knowing Illusion: Bringing a Tibetan Debate into Contemporary Discourse. Vol. II: Translation. Oxford: Oxford University Press (2020).

These two polygraphs feature scholarly analyses of previously unstudied texts and demonstrate the fruitfulness of a traditional method of collaborative cross-cultural philosophy today in which Tibetan and Western scholars work together to develop joint analyses. They also demonstrate that the metaphysical and epistemological ideas and arguments developed in these debates can contribute to Western philosophy.
Awards

Sonam has been involved in four international collaborative research projects all of which received external funding:

In 2016 Sonam teamed up the Yakherds research team as a Chief Investigator with Professor Powers (CI, Deakin University) and Professor Garfield (PI, Smith College, Harvard Divinity School) who were successfully awarded an ARC-Discovery for the application (ID: DP160100947; “A Buddhist Debate and Contemporary Relevance”, $414,000). They studied central debates in Tibetan Buddhist philosophy concerning truth, realism and epistemic justification, which were initiated by Taktsang Lotsāwa’s critiques of Tsongkhapa’s Madhyamaka, in which he charged that the latter’s interpretation suffers from “eighteen great burdens of contradiction”. The work explores the implications of this debate for subsequent Tibetan thought and for contemporary Western analytic philosophy. The main output was two research polygraphs that begin with precursors of the Tibetan debates in India. The first volume contains our critical studies which from Oxford University Press (2021) as Knowing Illusion: Bringing a Tibetan Debate into Contemporary Discourse: Vol. I: Studies. The second volume contains translations of the major Tibetan treatises in this debate and is published by Oxford University Press (2021) as Knowing Illusion: Bringing a Tibetan Debate into Contemporary Discourse. Vol. II: Translation. These two polygraphs feature scholarly analyses of previously unstudied texts and demonstrate the fruitfulness of a traditional method of collaborative cross-cultural philosophy today in which Tibetan and Western scholars work together to develop joint analyses. They also demonstrate that the metaphysical and epistemological ideas and arguments developed in these debates can contribute to Western philosophy.
In 2016 he teamed up with the Yakherds research team which was awarded an ARC Discovery funded project (entitled: Negotiating Modernity: Buddhism between Tibet and China DP110102042) for which John Powers and Jay L. Garfield were Chief Investigators. The project is successfully brought to its completion (April 2015) with a monograph entitled Dignāga’s Investigation of The Percept (Ālambana-Parīkṣā) And Its Philosophical Legacy In India And Tibet which was reviewed and published by the Oxford University Press (2015)
In 2016 Sonam and his team of researchers (with Prof. Jay L. Garfield as the Principle Investigator) were awarded a three-year funding (US $766,000) from the Ministry of Education of Singapore to work on research project entitled: “Bringing a Classical Tibetan Debate into Conversation with Contemporary Philosophy.”
In 2013 Sonam collaborated international collaborative research team the “Cowherds” on their second project which the Central University of Michigan funded the Cowherds’ which resulted a terrific cross-cultural volume in Buddhist philosophy Moonpaths: Ethics in the Context of Conventional Truthpublished by Oxford University Press (2015.
In 2011 Sonam collaborated with the Cowherds on their first collaborative project which was funded the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) which resulted in the publication of groundbreaking, Moonshadows: Conventional Truth in Buddhist Philosophy by Oxford University Press (2012).

Current projects

Independent Project

Currently he is working on a book monograph “Epistemological Non-foundationalism of Candrakīrti”. Candrakīrti is variously described as a global error theorist, epistemic eliminative and epistemological coherentist. In this book, he proposes an alternative nonfoundationalist epistemology for Candrakīritian Mādhyamaka. He demonstrates how Candrakīrtian philosophical works provide sufficient evidence to defend a unique, nonfoundationalist epistemology which, he argues, complements his core non-foundationalist ontology.

To summarise his methodology: he will study and translate texts on Candrakīrtian epistemology in the Indo-Tibetan tradition. He will prepare a critical analysis of these texts, and of the epistemological accounts they articulate. He will then explore the connections between Candrakīrtian epistemological framework and Western and contemporary epistemological theories, seeking common ground as well as the foundations of differences. This will in turn allow him to abstract a more general account of the epistemic domain and to connect that account to his other research on epistemology. Finally, he will use these ideas to develop an argument to support distinctive epistemological framework for Candrakīrtian account.

Collaborative Projects:

The Sources of Normativity in Cross-cultural Perspective

Sonam will team up with the group of international researchers to prepare and submit a joint ARC-application (DP220100204)entitled: “the Sources of Normativity in Cross-cultural Perspective.” The research team will include: Sonam Thakchoe (UTAS, CI), John Powers (CI, Deakin University), Jay Garfield (Harvard University/Smith College), Douglas Duckwrorth (Temple University), Emily McRae (University of New Mexico), Tashi Tsering (Central University of Tibetan Studies), Yeshes Thabkhas (Central University of Tibetan Studies), Jonathon Gold (Princeton University), Constance Kassor (Lawrence University), Thomas Doctor (Kathmandu University), and Thomas Wartenberg (Mount Holyoke College). This is a world class team, each of whose members has an excellent research track record, many of whom have experience working on large collaborative projects, whose skills complement one another’s well. The Buddhism specialists have proven track records bringing Buddhist and Western philosophy into dialogue.

This project will investigate one of the most pressing contemporary concerns in Australia and around the world: how do we constitute, adjudicate and propagate the norms that govern our behaviour? The research team will explore approaches to ethics that hold out hope for countering the skepticism and cynicism that characterise our current global moment of divisive distrust of others and skepticism regarding any possibility of shared moral foundations. They are engaging in cross-cultural studies to better understand specific methods to foster understanding across social divides and to seek new sources for dealing with social polarisation deriving from irreconcilable and antagonistic ideologies.

To summarise their methodology: their multidisciplinary team will study and translate texts on normativity and ethics in the Indo-Tibetan tradition. They will prepare a critical analysis of these texts, and of the accounts they articulate. They will then explore the connections between this framework and Western ethics and theories of normativity, seeking common ground as well as the foundations of differences. This will in turn allow them to abstract a more general account of the normative domain and to connect that account to their previous research on epistemology. Finally, they will use these ideas to develop principles that might guide values education in primary and secondary schools.

A Comprehensive Commentary on Candrakīrti’s ‘Introduction to the Middle Way’

Finally, Sonam will team up with Jay L. Garfield (Smith College, Harvard Divinity School), Jan Westerhoff (Oxford University) and Khenpo Tashi Tsering (Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies) to prepare and submit a new project proposal “A Comprehensive Commentary on Candrakīrti’s ‘Introduction to the Middle Way’ (Madhyamakāvatāra) to Wisdom Publications. Candrakīrti’s (7th century CE) ‘Introduction to the Middle Way’ (Madhyamakāvatāra) is one of the most central works of Buddhist philosophy for at least two reasons. First, it provides a philosophically precise introduction to Madhyamaka (the philosophy of the middle way). Second, Candrakīrti’s text occupies a very prominent role within the world of Madhyamaka literature.We will start working on this book proposal. The aim of their project is not principally to offer a new translation of Candrakīrti’s text, but instead to provide a comprehensive meta-commentary on and philosophical discussion of Candrakīrti’s entire work. It will be distinctive in the recent Candrakīrti literature.

This is a world class team, each of whose members has an excellent research track record, many of whom have experience working together on large collaborative projects, whose skills complement one another’s well. The Buddhism specialists have proven track records bringing Buddhist and Western philosophy into dialogue.