Desire and Motivation in Indian Philosophy.

• Author: Keating, Malcolm
• Position: Book review

Desire and Motivation in Indian Philosophy. By CHRISTOPHER G. FRAMARIN. Routledge Hindu Studies Series. London: ROUTLEDGE, 2009. Pp. xv + 196. $170 (cloth); $44.95 (paper).

According to the widely accepted Hummean view of action, if I write this book review in my office, it is because I have a belief-desire pair. I desire an end (that the review be finished) and have a belief about the means to the end (that my office will allow me the solitude to complete it). Simply having the belief about my office is insufficient for action. Desire is required. However, in the Bhagavad Gita, Krsna tells Arjuna that he should act without desire (nissprhah), having abandoned all desires (sarvan kaman). Many commentators suggest non-literal interpretations of Krsna's words, thinking a literal reading to be incoherent. In Desire and Motivation in Indian Philosophy, Christopher G. Framarin argues against this view and offers an account of desireless action.

Framarin exegetes the Bhagavad Gita and related Sanskrit texts, evaluates the interpretations of modern Indologists, and engages with contemporary philosophers working in theory of action. His concise and clear text simultaneously serves as an overview of the topic and a constructive philosophical account. The positive argument he makes in the final chapter for desireless action complements anti-Humean arguments in Western literature but is not identical to any existing view.

A brief introduction neatly outlines the book's argument: (1) In the Gita, Krsna tells Arjuna to act without desire. (2) Scholars interpret this as literally contradictory because desire is necessary for action, and so claim this cannot be Krskta's actual advice. (3) They argue instead that Krsna is urging the elimination of some desires--the "Some Desires Interpretation," henceforth SDI. (4) Scholars also argue that the wider Indian tradition accepts the SDI, and so we ought to understand the Gita in this way. (5) However, Krsna's advice is not so obviously a contradiction, contra (2), and so the SDI must be justified on the basis of the wider Indian tradition. Before accepting the SDI on the basis of other texts, per (4), we must ask two questions: first, on what basis do these texts distinguish between permissible and impermissible desires, and second, are these texts committed to the claim that action entails desire?

Thus while his starting point is the Gita, Framarin also surveys four other texts which are central to the Indian...