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Joy Laine

Adjunct Professor, Philosophy
Focuses on the philosophy of mind and language in the context of both Western and Indian philosophical traditions


Philosophy professor Joy Laine talks about some of the great qualities of yoga, long-known for its powers to relax mind and body. Laine has been teaching yoga at Macalester for years.

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Professor Laine specializes in the philosophy of mind and language. Her work in these areas encompasses both Western and Indian philosophical traditions. She has spent extensive periods in India pursuing her own research and accompanying students on study abroad programs. She has published articles in the areas of personal identity and Indian philosophy, and has written entries for the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy on topics in Indian philosophy. She is currently working on a book, Philosophical Persons, in which she examines the development of philosophical theories of personal identity and how such theories relate to broader cultural concerns.

Sample Publications and Presentations:

Recent Presentations

  • “The therapeutic aspects of logical inference in India: A Case Study in the Nyaya Darsanaand the Caraka Samhita, ” paper presented at Philosophia Therapeia Conference, University of Liverpool U.K., June 2008.
  • “Six Blind Men And A Prince,”  keynote speaker at the Minnesota Student Philosophy Conference, April 2006.

Book Chapters and Encyclopedia Articles

  • “Wittgenstein and Anscombe” forthcoming in An Unconventional History of Western Philosophy: Conversations Between Men and Women Philosophers (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.)
  • “Indian Philosophy of Mind,” “Vatsyayana,”  “Uddyotakara,” and “Udayana” in the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Journal Articles

  • “Some Remarks on the Gunagunibhedabhanga Chapter in Udayana’s Atmatattuaviveka.”Journal of Indian Philosophy 21 (1993).
  • “Udayana’s Refutation of the Buddhist Thesis of Momentariness in the Atmatattvaviveka,”Journal of Indian Philosophy  26 (1998).

Please see additional publications in the Faculty Publication Database.

BA: Hull University, 1974

MA: Surrey University, 1979

PhD: The Open University, Oxford, England, 1989.