# Jan Westerhoff > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Jan_Westerhoff > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Jan_Westerhoff.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Westerhoff > Source revision: 1352588002 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|German professor of Buddhist Philosophy and orientalist}} '''Jan Christoph Westerhoff''' is a German philosopher and orientalist with specific interests in [metaphysics](/source/metaphysics) and the [philosophy of language](/source/philosophy_of_language). He is currently [Professor](/source/Professor_(highest_academic_rank)) of [Buddhist Philosophy](/source/Buddhist_Philosophy) in the [Faculty of Theology and Religion](/source/Faculty_of_Theology_and_Religion%2C_University_of_Oxford) of the [University of Oxford](/source/University_of_Oxford).{{cite web|title=Professor Jan Westerhoff|url=https://www.theology.ox.ac.uk/people/professor-jan-westerhoff|website=Faculty of Theology and Religion|publisher=University of Oxford|access-date=22 November 2017}} ==Early life and education== Westerhoff was educated at the Annette-von-Droste-Hülshoff Gymnasium, a [Gymnasium](/source/Gymnasium_(Germany)) in [Düsseldorf](/source/D%C3%BCsseldorf), Germany.{{cite web|title=CV - J. Westerhoff|url=http://www.janwesterhoff.net/cv.htm|website=Jan Westerhoff|accessdate=22 November 2017|archive-date=17 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180417095406/http://www.janwesterhoff.net/cv.htm|url-status=dead}} He studied philosophy at [Trinity College, Cambridge](/source/Trinity_College%2C_Cambridge), graduating with a [first class](/source/First_class_honours) [Bachelor of Arts](/source/Bachelor_of_Arts) (BA) degree in 1999.{{cite web|title=Prof Jan Westerhoff|url=http://www.lmh.ox.ac.uk/our-academics/fellows/prof-jan-westerhoff|website=Lady Margaret Hall|publisher=University of Oxford|accessdate=22 November 2017}} He continued his studies of philosophy at Trinity and completed a [Master of Philosophy](/source/Master_of_Philosophy) (MPhil) degree in 2000.{{cite web|title=Dr Jan Christoph Westerhoff|url=https://www.soas.ac.uk/staff/staff57929.php|website=SOAS University of London|accessdate=22 November 2017|archive-date=1 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201031854/https://www.soas.ac.uk/staff/staff57929.php|url-status=dead}} He undertook postgraduate research at the [Faculty of Philosophy, University of Cambridge](/source/Faculty_of_Philosophy%2C_University_of_Cambridge); his [doctoral supervisor](/source/doctoral_supervisor) was Michael Potter. He completed his [Doctor of Philosophy](/source/Doctor_of_Philosophy) (PhD) degree in 2003, with a [doctoral thesis](/source/doctoral_thesis) titled "An inquiry into the notion of an ontological category".{{cite web|last1=Westerhoff|first1=Jan Christoph|title=An inquiry into the notion of an ontological category|url=http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.619905|website=E-Thesis Online Service|publisher=The British Library Board|accessdate=22 November 2017|date=2003}} He undertook research for a second doctorate, this time in [Oriental studies](/source/Oriental_studies), at the [School of Oriental and African Studies](/source/School_of_Oriental_and_African_Studies), [University of London](/source/University_of_London) (SOAS). He completed his second PhD in 2007 with a doctoral thesis titled "[Nagarjuna](/source/Nagarjuna)'s [madhyamaka](/source/madhyamaka): A philosophical investigation".{{cite thesis|last1=Westerhoff|first1=Jan Christoph|title=Nagarjuna's madhyamaka: A philosophical investigation|url=http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.498483 |website=E-Thesis Online Service|publisher=The British Library Board|accessdate=22 November 2017|date=2003|doi=10.25501/SOAS.00029362 |type=phd }} ==Academic career== He was previously a research fellow in philosophy at the [City University of New York](/source/City_University_of_New_York), a seminar associate at [Columbia University](/source/Columbia_University), a junior research fellow at [Linacre College](/source/Linacre_College), a junior lecturer in the philosophy of mathematics at the [University of Oxford](/source/University_of_Oxford), a university lecturer in religious ethics at the [University of Oxford](/source/University_of_Oxford), a Fellow of [Lady Margaret Hall](/source/Lady_Margaret_Hall) and a research associate at [SOAS](/source/SOAS). ===Research=== He is a specialist in metaphysics and [Indo-Tibetan philosophy](/source/Indo-Tibetan_philosophy). In particular, his research focuses on the philosophy of the early Indian [Mahāyāna Buddhist](/source/Mahayana) thinker, [Nāgārjuna](/source/Nagarjuna), with comprehensive books such as ''Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka.'' His research interests also include the [history of ideas](/source/history_of_ideas) in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. His most recent research interests focus on the history of [solipsism](/source/solipsism).{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJ_ERQ7ZlGs&ab_channel=TheInstituteofArtandIdeas|title=Is Reality an Illusion?|date=10 November 2019|language=|publisher=The Institute of Art and Ideas|trans-title=|location=|time=|access-date=|archive-url=|archive-date=|format=|id=|isbn=|oclc=|quote=|medium=Motion picture {{!}} Jan Westerhoff}} ==Selected works== ===Books=== *''The Non-Existence of the Real World.'' (Oxford University Press, 2020, 384 pp., {{ISBN|9780198847915}}) *''Crushing the Categories: [Nagarjuna](/source/Nagarjuna)'s Vaidalyaprakarana.'' (Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2018, {{ISBN|9781949163001}}) *''The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy.'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018, {{ISBN|9780198732662}}) *''Reality: [A Very Short Introduction](/source/A_Very_Short_Introduction).'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011, {{ISBN|0199594414}}) *''The Dispeller of Disputes: [Nagarjuna](/source/Nagarjuna)'s Vigrahavyavartani.'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010) *''Twelve Examples of Illusion.'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010) *(co-authored with The Cowherds) ''Moonshadows: Conventional Truth in Buddhist Philosophy.'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010, {{ISBN|0199751439}}) *''Nagarjuna's [Madhyamaka](/source/Madhyamaka).'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009) *''Ontological Categories: Their Nature and Significance'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005) ===Journal papers (selection)=== * {{cite journal|doi=10.1007/s10781-008-9048-6|title=Nāgārjuna's Arguments on Motion Revisited|journal=Journal of Indian Philosophy|volume=36|issue=4|pages=455–479|year=2008|last1=Westerhoff|first1=Jan|s2cid=85551781}} * {{cite journal|doi=10.1080/09552360701201122|title=The Madhyamaka Concept of ''Svabh''āva: Ontological and Cognitive Aspects|journal=Asian Philosophy|volume=17|pages=17–45|year=2007|last1=Westerhoff|first1=Jan|s2cid=143804698}} * {{cite journal|doi=10.1007/s10781-005-6172-4|title=Nāgārjuna's Catuṣkoṭi|journal=Journal of Indian Philosophy|volume=34|issue=4|pages=367–395|year=2006|last1=Westerhoff|first1=J.|s2cid=169456015}} * {{cite journal|doi=10.5840/jphil20051021210|title=Logical Relations between Pictures|journal=Journal of Philosophy|volume=102|issue=12|pages=603–623|year=2005|last1=Westerhoff|first1=Jan|s2cid=119028160 }} * {{cite journal|doi=10.1080/713659902|title=The Construction of Ontological Categories|journal=Australasian Journal of Philosophy|volume=82|issue=4|pages=595–620|year=2004|last1=Westerhoff|first1=Jan|s2cid=170787660}} * {{cite journal|doi=10.1023/A:1022670409809|year=2003|last1=Westerhoff|first1=Jan|journal=Erkenntnis|volume=58|issue=3|pages=379–414|s2cid=118231467}} * {{cite journal|doi=10.1515/kant.2003.019|title=Ludwig Benedict Tredes Forgotten Necessary Grammar|journal=Kant-Studien|volume=94|issue=3|year=2003|last1=Westerhoff|first1=Jan}} * {{cite journal|doi=10.1111/1467-9264.00122|title=Defining 'Ontological Category'|journal=Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society|volume=102|issue=3|pages=287–293|year=2002|last1=Westerhoff|first1=Jan|url=https://philpapers.org/rec/WESDOC }} * {{cite journal|doi=10.1353/jhi.2001.0041|title=A World of Signs: Baroque Pansemioticism, the Polyhistor and the Early Modern Wunderkammer|journal=Journal of the History of Ideas|volume=62|issue=4|pages=633–650|year=2001|last1=Westerhoff|first1=Jan C.|s2cid=170210097}} * {{cite journal|doi=10.1353/jhi.1999.0031|title=Poeta Calculans: Harsdorffer, Leibniz, and the mathesis universalis|journal=Journal of the History of Ideas|volume=60|issue=3|pages=449–467|year=1999|last1=Westerhoff|first1=Jan C.|s2cid=170774562}} ===Talks=== *[http://www.cbs.columbia.edu/buddhist_ethics/panel-one.html/ Talk on naturalizing Buddhism, 2011] *[https://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/madhyamaka-and-methodology/id411898147?mt=10 Talk at the Madhyamaka and Methodology Symposium, 2010] == See also == * [Similarities between Pyrrhonism and Buddhism](/source/Similarities_between_Pyrrhonism_and_Buddhism) ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== *[http://www.janwesterhoff.net/ Westerhoff's homepage] {{authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Westerhoff, Jan}} Category:Academics of Durham University Category:Fellows of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford Category:German orientalists Category:Living people Category:German metaphysicians Category:German philosophers of language Category:Ontologists Category:21st-century German philosophers Category:German male non-fiction writers Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:German Indologists Category:Buddhist studies scholars Category:21st-century German male writers --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Jan Westerhoff](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Westerhoff) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Westerhoff?action=history)). 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