Elisa Freschi

Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy

Areas of interest

South Asian Philosophy

Biography

Elisa Freschi works on Sanskrit philosophy, more specifically on topics of epistemology of testimony, philosophy of religion, philosophy of language, deontic logic, and on the reuse of texts in the Sanskrit cosmopolis. She is a convinced upholder of reading Sanskrit philosophical texts within their history and understanding them through a philosophical approach. She has worked as an “Assistentin” at the University of Vienna and as research leader of projects on Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta and on deontic logic and Mīmāṃsā at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. You can download and read her publications from her personal website and read her thoughts on her blog.

Select publications

Authored Books

Duty, language and exegesis in Prābhākara Mīmāṃsā: Including an edition and translation of Rāmānujācārya’s Tantrarahasya, Śāstraprameyapariccheda, Leiden: Brill (2012) (reviewed by Hugo David (BEFEO, 99 (2012–13), pp. 395–408), Gavin Flood (Journal of Hindu Studies, 8.3 (2015), pp. 326–328), Andrew Ollett (Philosophy East and West, 65.2 (2015), pp. 632–636) and Taisei Shida (Nagoya Studies in Indian Culture and Buddhism. Saṃbhāṣā, 31 (2014), pp. 84–87)).
(with Tiziana Pontillo), Rule-extension-strategies in Ancient India: Śrautasūtra, Mīmāṃsā and Grammar on tantra- and prasaṅga- principles, Frankfurt a.M: Fritz Lang (2013) (reviewed by Émilie Aussant (Journal of South Asian Languages and Linguistics, 4.2 (2017), pp. 309–310)).

Published Articles and Book Chapters

(with Alessandro Graheli) “Bhāṭṭamīmāṃsā and Nyāya on Veda and Tradition”, in Federico Squarcini (ed.) Boundaries, Dynamics and Construction of Traditions in South Asia, Firenze and New Delhi: Firenze University Press and Munshiram Manoharlal 2005, pp. 287- 323.
“Desidero Ergo Sum: The Subject as the Desirous One in Mīmāṃsā”, in Rivista di Studi Orientali 80 (2007), pp. 51–61.
“Unveiling (Indian) Philosophy”, in Rivista di Studi Sudasiatici 2 (2007), pp. 265-270.
“Abhāvapramāṇa and error in Kumārila’s commentators”, in Nagoya Studies in Indian Culture and Buddhism: Saṃbhāṣā 27 (2008), pp. 1–29.
“How do exhortative expressions work? Bhāvanā and vidhi in Rāmānujācārya and other Mīmāṃsā authors”, in Rivista di Studi Orientali 81 (2008), pp. 149–185.
“Structuring the Chaos: Bhāṭṭa Mīmāṃsā Hermeneutics as Depicted in Rāmānujācārya’s Śāstraprameyapariccheda. Critical Edition and Annotated Translation of the Forth Section”, in East and West 58 (2008), pp. 157–184.
“Facing the boundaries of epistemology: Kumārila on error and negative cognition”, in Journal of Indian Philosophy 38 (2010), pp. 39–48.
“Indian Philosophers”, in Costantine Sandis and Timothy O’Connor (eds.), A Companion to the Philosophy of Action, Wiley-Blackwell (2010), pp. 419-428.
“General Introduction”, in Elisa Freschi, Artemij Keidan, Matilde Adduci, Cristina Bignami, Daniele Cuneo, Camillo Formigatti and Elena Mucciarelli (eds.) The Study of Asia between Antiquity and Modernity. The first Coffee Break Conference. Special Issue of the Rivista di Studi Orientali LXXXIV (2011), pp. 37–42.
“Action, Desire and Subjectivity in Prābhākara Mīmāṃsā”, in Irina Kuznetsova, Jonardon Ganeri and Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad (eds.), Hindu and Buddhist Ideas in Dialogue: Self and No-Self, Farnham: Ashgate 2012, pp. 147–164 (reviewed by Stephen Phillips, Philosophy East and West, 64.1 (2014), pp. 253–260; James Madaio, Journal of Hindu Studies 6.3 (2013), pp. 391–393).