Jay L. Garfield
American philosopher and scholar of Indian and Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, known for work on Madhyamaka, comparative philosophy, and for books including Empty Words and Engaging Buddhism.
Books
This list of books are ONLY the books that have been ranked on the lists that are aggregated on this site. This is not a comprehensive list of all books by this author.
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1. The Meaning Of Life Perspectives From The World's Great Intellectual Traditions
Perspectives from the World's Great Intellectual Traditions
A wide-ranging anthology that brings together perspectives from major religious and philosophical traditions to explore how different cultures and intellectual lineages answer the question of what gives life meaning. Through comparative essays and translations, it examines competing answers—purpose, virtue, duty, harmony with the cosmos, liberation from suffering, and communal belonging—while highlighting the practices and concepts that ground those answers in lived experience. The volume emphasizes cross-cultural dialogue rather than offering a single solution, showing how diverse frameworks illuminate different aspects of human flourishing, death, and moral responsibility.