Rediscovering God with Transcendental Argument

Rediscovering God with Transcendental Argument provides a comparative philosophical study of the Pratyabhijna system of the medieval Kashmiri Saiva thinkers Utpaladeva and Abhinavagupta. Beginning with intensive descriptive and prescriptive reflections on the nature of philosophy itself, the book examines the special characteristics of the Pratyabhijna discourse as both philosophical apologetics and spiritual exercise. Lawrence situates the Pratyabhijna speculation within the larger context of Hindu and Buddhist deliberations about the role of interpretation in experience, and gives a groundbreaking exposition of the epistemology and ontology of Siva’s self-recognition. He observes the similarities and differences of the Pratyabhijna with Christian understandings of the divine logos, and argues that the Saiva philosophy elucidates a cogent way of demonstrating the reality of God against contemporary relativism, deconstructionism and other forms of skepticism.