Capturing the Ineffable

Philip Y. Kao is a research associate in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh.Joseph S. Alter is the director of the Asian Studies Center and a professor of anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh.

• Introduction: Toward an Anthropology of WisdomPhilip Kao, University of PittsburghPart I. Seeking WisdomRevelations of Delusion: Becoming Isomorphic to the Ugrund, Richard Doyle, Penn StateThe Social Life of the Inexpressible: English Benedictine Mysticism, the Ineffable, and the Sublime, Richard Irvine, University of St Andrews Part II. Discerning WisdomHow Wisdom in Discovered: Discretion and Emotional Insights in Naikan Meditation in Japan, Clark Chilson, University of PittsburghNavigating Wisdom and Time in the Context of Aging and Eldercare, Philip Kao, University of PittsburghPart III. Transmitting WisdomYoga and Wisdom: Reflections on the Body at the Intersection of Epistemology and Ontology, Joseph Alter, University of PittsburghThe Social Construction of Wisdom in Institutions, Charlotte LindePart IV. Narrating WisdomOf Uncertainty, Sophiology and Contemporary Governance: Zen and the Art of Scenario Planning, James Faubion, Rice UniversityGrappling with the Ineffable in Three African Situations: An Ethnographic Approach, Wim van Binsbergen, African Studies Centre, Leiden