Review for the exam on W 11 March

You will be asked to write a philosophic essay on one the following topics.  Versions of all three will appear on the test.

1. Does yogic testimony carry epistemic weight for claims--beyond principles of practice--about a higher self, cosmic consciousness, Nirvana, God, or Brahman?  How about claims about other things not countenanced by science but mentioned in the course of training, e.g., prana, kosha, skandha, and/or chakra?  What are some of the key considerations that bear on this question, including any relevant difference between a first- and third-person perspective?  What is your own opinion and best reasons?

2. What is the overall message of the Gita?  Does the work's context in the Mahabharata help us determine what this message is?  Elaborate the practices of yoga advocated--whether considered separately or in combination, karma-yoga, jnana-yoga, bhakti-yoga, and buddhi-yoga, too--and explain how their endorsement fits with (or possibly clashes with) the Gita's metaphysics of Brahman or God?

3. Is there an ethical side to yoga?  What about the teaching of ahimsa?  What are some of the main arguments offered in favor of its practice, and are any of them cogent, that is to say, do they carry the day?   Are teachings concerning karma presupposed as a premise or premises in any of the arguments you identify?  What about the idea of karmic justice, karmic payback?  Is this mere superstition?