Stephen Harris
University Lecturer Indian and Comparative Philosophy
- Name
- Dr. S.E. Harris
- Telephone
- +31 71 527 8983
- s.e.harris@hum.leidenuniv.nl
- ORCID iD
- 0000-0002-1389-8353
Stephen Harris is a University Lecturer at the Institute for Philosophy.
Fields of interest
- Indian Philosophy
- Buddhist Ethics
- Ethical Theory
- Ancient Philosophy (Indian, Chinese and Greek)
Research
My research focuses on Indian philosophical texts, in particular Buddhist moral philosophy, and their conceptual relationship to issues investigated in contemporary philosophy. Current interests include moral demandingness in the writing of the 8th century Indian Buddhist philosopher, Śāntideva, and cross-cultural study of well-being.
Other interests include comparative virtue theory, the role of suffering in ethical theory and the relation between personal identity and ethics. My research is also influenced by phenomenology, as well as ancient philosophy, including Chinese and Greek thought.
Teaching activities
I teach courses on comparative and Asian philosophy, as well as ethics and the history of philosophy, at the Institute for Philosophy in Leiden, as well as Leiden University College and the International B.A. program, both located in The Hague.
Curriculum vitae
Dr. Harris received his PhD from the philosophy department at the University of New Mexico in the U.S. Before coming to Leiden University, he was a pre-doctoral fellow at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. He has articles published or forthcoming by the journals Contemporary Pragmatism, The Journal of Buddhist Ethics, Philosophy East and West, Asian Philosophy and Sophia.
University Lecturer Indian and Comparative Philosophy
- Faculty of Humanities
- Instituut voor Wijsbegeerte
- Harris S.E. (2024), The philosopher returns to Saṃsāra: Plato and Śāntideva on benevolence, self-interest, and happiness. In: Carpenter A. & Harter P. (Eds.), Crossing the stream, leaving the cave: Buddhist-Platonist philosophical inquiries. New York : Oxford University Press. 269-288.
- Harris S.E. (2024), Buddhism and existentialism: Saṃvega as existential dread of the human condition. In: Aho K., Altman M. & Pedersen H. (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of contemporary existentialism: Routledge.
- Harris S.E. (2024), The Joke is Saṃsāra: Humor as a Means in Śāntideva’s Bodhisattva Path. In: Barbato M., Schneider M. & Volker F. (Eds.), Beyond Boundaries: Essays on Theology, Dialogue, and Religion in Honor of Perry Schmidt-Leukel. Munster, Germany : Waxmann Press. 253-260.
- Harris S.E. (2023), Buddhist Ethics and the Bodhisattva Path: Śāntideva on Virtue and Well-Being. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
- Harris S.E. (2022), Suffering (duḥkha) in Indian Buddhism. In: Flavel S. & Robbiano C. (Eds.), Key concepts in world philosophies: everything you need to know about doing cross-cultural philosophy: Bloomsbury.
- Harris S.E. (2022), Śāntideva: virtue on the empty path of the Bodhisattva. In: Edelglass W., McClintock S. & Harter P. (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Indian Buddhist Philosophy: Routledge.
- Harris S.E. (2021), Śāntideva’s Introduction to the Practices of Awakening (Bodhicaryāvatara). In: , Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion: Oxford University Press.
- Harris S.E. (2021), Anātmavāda. In: Goetz S. & Taliaferro C. (Eds.), The encyclopedia of philosophy of religion: Wiley-Blackwell.
- Framarin C. & Harris S.E. (2021), Pleasure, desire and welfare in Buddhist and Hindu texts. In: Kellner B., Eltschinger V., Mills E. & Ratié I. (Eds.), The road Less Taken: Essays in Honor of John Taber: The Austrian Academy of Sciences. 127-145.
- Harris S.E. (2018), A Nirvana that is Burning in Hell: Pain and Flourishing in Mahayana. Buddhist Moral Thought, Sophia : .
- Harris S.E. (2018), Promising Across Lives to Save Non-Existent Beings: Identity, Rebirth and the Bodhisattva’s Vow, Philosophy East and West 68(2): 386-407.
- Harris S.E. (2018), Altruism in the charnel ground: Śāntideva and Parfit on anātman, reductionism and benevolence. In: Davis G.F. (Ed.), Ethics without self, dharma without atman: western and Buddhist philosophical traditions in dialogue: Springer.
- Harris S.E. (2017), The Skillful Handling of Poison: Bodhicitta and the Kleśas in Śāntideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra, Journal of Indian Philosophy 45: 331-348.
- Harris S.E. (2016), Buddhism and disability. In: Schumm D.Y. & Stoltzfus M. (Eds.), Disability and world religion: an introduction: Baylor University Press. 25-45.
- Harris S.E. (2016), Where does the Cetanic Break Take Place? Weakness of Will in Śāntideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra, Comparative Philosophy 7(2): 26-43.
- Harris S.E. (2015), Demandingness, Well-Being and the Bodhisattva Path, Sophia: International Journal of Philosophy and Traditions 54(2): 201-216.
- Harris S.E. (2015), On the Classification of Śāntideva’s Ethics in the Bodhicaryāvatāra, Philosophy East and West 65(1): 249-275.
- Harris S.E. (2015) Review of Stephen C. Angle and Michael Slote (ed.), Virtue Ethics and Confucianism. Review of: Angle Stephen C. & Slote Michael (2013), Virtue Ethics and Confucianism. New York: Routledge 10(1): 148-152.
- Harris S.E. (2014), Suffering and the Shape of Well-Being in Buddhist Ethics, Asian Philosophy 24(3): 242-259.
- Harris S.E. (2011), Does Anātman Rationally Entail Altruism? On Bodhicaryāvatāra 8:101-103, Journal of Buddhist Ethics 18: 93-123.