Frits Staal
Johan Fredrik "Frits" Staal (born November 3, 1930 in Amsterdam ; † February 19, 2012 in Chiang Mai , Thailand ) was a Dutch philosopher , linguist , Indologist and well-known researcher on ancient philosophy who, among other things, dealt with the Comparison of Advaita-Vedanta and Neoplatonism .
Life
Studies and teaching activities
Staal, a son of the architect Jan Frederik Staal , studied mathematics , natural sciences and philosophy at the University of Amsterdam after attending school . He then continued his studies in Indian philosophy and Sanskrit at Banaras Hindu University (BHU), where he completed his doctorate in 1957 with a dissertation on Sanskrit in Chennai .
He then worked from 1958 to 1962 as a lecturer for Sanskrit at the School for Oriental and African Studies at the University of London and at the same time from 1961 to 1962 Assistant Professor and Associate Professor of Indian Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania .
He then returned to the Netherlands and between 1962 and 1967 took over a professorship for general and comparative philosophy at the University of Amsterdam.
In 1967 he caused a sensation with his essay Zinvolle en zinloze Filosofie in the literary magazine De Gids : In it he suggested that only verifiable statements form a meaningful philosophy. Statements like Martin Heidegger's “Not nothing” cannot be examined or verified and are therefore pointless. His views on European and especially German and Dutch philosophers expressed in this article led to heated arguments with representatives of non-analytical philosophy such as J. Aler.
In 1968 he was appointed professor of philosophy and South Asian languages at the University of California, Berkeley , where he taught until his retirement in 1991. He was also a visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the universities of Bangkok , Kyoto , Paris , Peradeniya , Stanford , Sussex , Tokyo and Georgetown University .
In 1975, as the leader of a group of scientists, he undertook a twelve-day research trip to Kerala to document the Vedic Agnicayana ( fire sacrifice ). He published the research results there in two extensive specialist books as well as in a documentary film entitled Altar of Fire .
In 2003 he finally took over a visiting professorship at the University of Leiden for a period of time .
Focus of his work and views
In his research he dealt among other things with the comparison of Advaita-Vedanta with Neoplatonism. In addition to his teaching activities, Staal continued to study Vedic rituals and mantras and undertook field studies of ritual acts and mysticisms . Furthermore, studies on the logic in the philosophy of antiquity and Indian philosophy, the grammar of Sanskrit as well as the Greek and Vedic geometry formed the focus of his work.
Methodologically , Staal was convinced that the entire universe is open to rational investigation. To this end he stated:
- "Studying something 'irrationally' is refusing to study it" ('Studying something' irrationally 'is refusing to study it')
A recurring theme was that areas like the mysticism of rituals were not open to rational, scientific investigation like other aspects of the universe. According to Staal, artificial distinctions between “East” and “West” in the natural sciences and humanities also prevented a fruitful study of human life. His study of Panini's Sanskrit grammar entitled Ashtadhyayi undermined the previously believed superiority of the Greek classics in the field of scientific analysis. From this he drew the conclusion that logic, linguistics and other sciences are not properties of any particular culture, but are universal characteristics of humanity.
Publications
- Advaita and Neoplatonism. A Critical Study in Comparative Philosophy , 1961
- Nambudiri Veda Recitation , 1961
- Word Order in Sanskrit and Universal Grammar , 1967
- A Reader on the Sanskrit Grammarians , 1972
- Exploring mysticism. A Methodological Essay , 1975
- The Science of Ritual , 1982
- AGNI - The Vedic Ritual of the Fire Altar , 3 volumes, 1983
- The Stamps of Jammu and Kashmir , 1983
- Over Zin en Onzin , 1986
- Universals. Studies in Indian Logic and Linguistics , Chicago 1988
- Een Wijsgeer in het Oosten. Op reis door Java en Kalimantan , 1988
- Rules Without Meaning. Ritual, Mantras and the Human Sciences , 1989
- Jouer avec le feu. Pratique et theorie du rituel vedique , 1990
- Concepts of Science in Europe and Asia , 1993
- Mantras between Fire and Water. Reflections on a Balinese Rite , 1995
- Drie bergen en zeven rivieren: Essays , 2004
- Discovering the Vedas: Origins, Mantras, Rituals, Insights , 2008
- in German language
- The authority of the Vedas: an exchange of letters between AC Bhaktivedanta Swami and Dr. JF Staal , Hamburg 1972
Web links
- Homepage of the University of California, Berkeley
- RIP Johan Frederik (Frits) Staal, 1930-2012 (Obituary on the homepage of the University of California, Berkeley, accessed March 6, 2012)
- Frits Staal, an influential indologist, passes away . In: The Hindu of February 22, 2012
Individual evidence
- ↑ Aart Brouwer: Frits Staal, November 3, 1930 - February 19, 2012 in: De Groene Amsterdammer, February 29, 2012, accessed on May 16, 2020.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Staal, Frits |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Staal, Johan Fredrik |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch philosopher and linguist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 3, 1930 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Amsterdam |
| DATE OF DEATH | 19th February 2012 |
| Place of death | Chiang Mai , Thailand |