The Law of Karma (Library of Philosophy and Religion)

There are a number of ways to mine the rich concept of the law of karma. Though each way has its special resources and unique methods for treating the material, it is also true that each supplements the other. In the past decade, two approaches have been pursued effectively: the historical approach, with its reliance on carefully exegeting primary source materials, and the anthropological approach, with its descriptions of karma-associated practices and believer reports. But there is a third approach which, though employed to a limited extent in various journal articles, has not been fully pursued. This approach treats the law of karma as a philosophical thesis important both in its own right and as a unifying concept within certain religious-philosphical systems. The concept is central to those systems because of both its explanatory power and its connection to other significant concepts and critical issues - to causation, freedom, fatalism, the existence and role of God, the problem of pleasure and suffering, the nature of the human person, justice, the moral law, rebirth, liberation and immortality. The burden of this perspective is to discern what has been and is being said about the law of karma, interpret what is or might be meant by what is said, reconstruct how the various pieces of the philosophical puzzle might be fitted together, analytically explore its ramifications for conceptually-associated theses, and evaluate the inner logic of the concept. Though this approach builds on the historical texts and anthropological data, it is not meant primarily to provide a historical treatment or anthropological guide. Rather, in generalizing it takes the concept in broader strokes and ultimately inquires about its meaning, truth and consistency.