Final Report Summary - SV-RT (Sastravid - a new paradigm for the study of Indian philosophical texts)
The aim of the project Śāstravid: A new paradigm for the study of Indian philosophy was to develop a new web-based electronic tool for the study and analysis of Indian philosophical texts. This tool is now available at www.sastravid.net. The project’s objective was to provide a key that unlocks the contents of Indian philosophical texts by bringing together the information contained in commentarial works, both ancient and modern, in such a way that it is easily accessible from the text itself. Apart from structuring the works, providing commentarial background and linking texts to other texts the present project develops a radically new way of analyzing the text's conceptual contents. This analysis is linked directly to the texts themselves, which makes it easy to switch between philological and philosophical modes of research.
This tool is now available at www.sastravid.net. It consists of two key components: a textual component and a conceptual component. The former allows the display of philosophical texts in a variety of languages, the text's original languages (where preserved), as well as historical and modern translations. At present material encoded in the resource includes texts in Sanskrit, Tibetan, Classical Chinese, English, and German. The latter component is a framework for displaying the text's conceptual contents in a structured way. To achieve this aim it employs two main constituents, propositions and authorities. Propositions are specific philosophical theses defended in the texts analyzed, authorities are passages from the primary texts that support these theses. The propositions are organized in a tree-structure, with higher-level topics subsuming groups of propositions that deal with the same subject-matter. Each propositions is linked to the textual authorities supporting it, and through these linkages the user can move seamlessly from the conceptual component of the resource (which acts as a structured repository of the contents) the textual component (the basis that provides textual support for the propositions included in the resource) and back.
The texts included in the project consist primarily of Indian Buddhist material from the Madhyamaka school, especially of works by the school's 2nd century founder, Nāgārjuna, as well as various commentaries on his key works. The resource also includes a variety of modern translations of these texts (primarily into English and, to a lesser extent, into German) in order to make Śāstravid a resource that is useful also outside of the disciplines of Oriental Studies and Indology. Conceptual analyses of of the majority of the texts have been included in the project, together with an extensive set of textual and philological notes on the key texts.
The resource now includes all key functional features which are available via the project's website at www.sastravid.net. The only main function not fully operational at present is the sign-up feature. This allows users to add their own content to the site, either in the form of notes or conceptual structuring of existing texts, or by adding new texts. This content would be visible to the group of users who originally contributed it, as well as – in certain cases – to all users. At present we are putting in place the necessary legal framework (terms of use as well as a privacy policy) that allows users to contribute content to the site.
This tool is now available at www.sastravid.net. It consists of two key components: a textual component and a conceptual component. The former allows the display of philosophical texts in a variety of languages, the text's original languages (where preserved), as well as historical and modern translations. At present material encoded in the resource includes texts in Sanskrit, Tibetan, Classical Chinese, English, and German. The latter component is a framework for displaying the text's conceptual contents in a structured way. To achieve this aim it employs two main constituents, propositions and authorities. Propositions are specific philosophical theses defended in the texts analyzed, authorities are passages from the primary texts that support these theses. The propositions are organized in a tree-structure, with higher-level topics subsuming groups of propositions that deal with the same subject-matter. Each propositions is linked to the textual authorities supporting it, and through these linkages the user can move seamlessly from the conceptual component of the resource (which acts as a structured repository of the contents) the textual component (the basis that provides textual support for the propositions included in the resource) and back.
The texts included in the project consist primarily of Indian Buddhist material from the Madhyamaka school, especially of works by the school's 2nd century founder, Nāgārjuna, as well as various commentaries on his key works. The resource also includes a variety of modern translations of these texts (primarily into English and, to a lesser extent, into German) in order to make Śāstravid a resource that is useful also outside of the disciplines of Oriental Studies and Indology. Conceptual analyses of of the majority of the texts have been included in the project, together with an extensive set of textual and philological notes on the key texts.
The resource now includes all key functional features which are available via the project's website at www.sastravid.net. The only main function not fully operational at present is the sign-up feature. This allows users to add their own content to the site, either in the form of notes or conceptual structuring of existing texts, or by adding new texts. This content would be visible to the group of users who originally contributed it, as well as – in certain cases – to all users. At present we are putting in place the necessary legal framework (terms of use as well as a privacy policy) that allows users to contribute content to the site.