Table of Contents

PREFACE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INTRODUCTION Introduction The Titans: Superhuman and Superdivine Uttaravada versus Avataravada Summaries of the Chapters Nietzsche's Ubermensch Not a Titan 1. TITANISM IN THE WEST Introduction Humanism and Superhumanism Existentialism and Titanism Christian Titanism and the Incarnation Western Answers to Titanism 2. THE SELF AND CONSTRUCTIVE POSTMODERNISM Introduction Premodernism, Modernism, and Postmodernism Hebraic and Buddhist Skandhas Problems with Indian Dualisms ACritique of Advaita Vedanta ABuddhist Dialectic of Reconstruction Conclusions 3. PROMETHEUS EAST: GREEK AND HINDU TITANS Introduction Asura Titanism Human Titans in the Puranas Titans and Olympians Conclusions 4. JAINA SUPERHUMANISM AND GNOSTIC TITANISM Introduction Jaina Colossi and the Cosmic Man The Status of the Jaina Gods Man Is God and Homo Mensura Omniscience: Mahavira and the Buddha Anekantavada and Gnostic Titanism Panzooism, Mind-Body, and Process Philosophy Conclusions 5. HINDU TITANISM Introduction Types of Indian Titanism Yoga Titanism The Purusa Hymn and its Legacy The Purusa as Cosmic Yogi Monism, Ecology, and Titanism 6. THE YOGI AND THE GODDESS Prologue: The Dancing Goddess Introduction The Material Principle: East and West The Goddess in Indian Philosophy Puranic Expressions of the Goddess Kurtz's Psychoanalytic Interpretation Does the Goddess Speak with a Woman's Voice? Conclusions Epilogue: The Triumph of the Goddess 7. NEO-VEDANTA AND AUROBINDOS SUPERMAN Introduction Ramakrishna: Kali's Child Vivekananda's "Manly" Neo-Vedanta Supermind, Superman, and Supernature Conclusions 8. BUDDHISM, HUMANISM, AND TITANISM Introduction Buddhist Humanism The Buddha Is Just the Buddha The Buddha as Mahapurisa The Cosmological Buddha of Mahayana The Siddhas: Buddha's Lions Zen, the Body, and Society Conclusions 9. ON THE DEIFICATION OF CONFUCIUS Introduction A History of Confucius' Elevation Is the Sage God? The Sage as a Great Person 10. XUNZI AND NEO-CONFUCIANISM Introduction Xunzi, Tian, and the Cosmic Triad Is Xunzi a Technological Titan? Machle: Xunzi Not a Titan Neo-Confucianism and Titanism Self, Body, and Society 11. LAOZI, ZHUANGZI, AND NIETZSCHE Introduction Purusa and Panku Immortality and the Immortals Zhuangzi and Postmodernism Zhuangzi and the Perfect Person Zhuangzi and Nietzsche The Triumph of the Confucian Sage NOTES SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX

About the Author

Nicholas F. Gier is Professor of Philosophy and Coordinator of Religious Studies at the University of Idaho. He is the author of Wittgenstein and Phenomenology: A Comparative Study of the Later Wittgenstein, Husserl, Heidegger, and Merleau-Ponty, also published by SUNY Press, and God, Reason, and the Evangelicals: The Case Against Evangelical Rationalism.

Reviews

"The act of cross-cultural comparison, particularly in religious studies, is an art that once flourished but is now routinely challenged from a whole host of technical and specialist fronts. Gier's text, essentially a comprehensive essay of normative comparative philosophy, is especially refreshing in such a world, as it effectively brings together an impressive range of scholarship (Western philosophy and theology, comparative mythology, Jaina, Hindu, Buddhist, Daoist, and Confucian Studies) to create a truly comparative text with a distinct, original, philosophically and religiously important thesis. Gier's category of 'Titanism,' which functions as an ethical critique of mystical religiosities from the standpoint of a constructive postmodern and humanistic standpoint, enables him to accomplish this synthetic and normative feat, and to do it in a way that does not collapse the very real differences between these traditions into a simplistic perennialism or universalism. This is one of the few books that I have read that actually makes sense of what a 'postmodern' perspective is and how it might function. This is no mean accomplishment." - Jeffrey J. Kripal, author of Kali's Child: The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and Teachings of Ramakrishna