Back To Faculty
>
Jonathan Dickstein, PhD, an Assistant Professor at Arihanta Institute beginning May 2023, specializes in South Asian Religions, Religion and Ecology, and Comparative Religious Ethics. He received his doctoral degree in Religious Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he wrote his dissertation on ancient Indian animal taxonomies and their relevance for religious ritual and dietary practice. Jonathan’s current work focuses on Jainism and contemporary ecological issues, and accordingly extends into Critical Animal Studies, Food Studies, and Diaspora Studies.
Jonathan has published in a wide array of interdisciplinary journals on topics such as veganism and politics, yoga and diet, Jain veganism, and the ethic of nonviolence (ahiṃsa). Jonathan considers himself a scholar-practitioner, having spent many years not only in libraries but also in public advocating for justice for both humans and nonhumans alike.
Jonathan has published in a wide array of interdisciplinary journals on topics such as veganism and politics, yoga and diet, Jain veganism, and the ethic of nonviolence (ahiṃsa). Jonathan considers himself a scholar-practitioner, having spent many years not only in libraries but also in public advocating for justice for both humans and nonhumans alike.
Research
PhD in Religious Studies, University of California-Santa Barbara
MA in Religious Studies, University of Colorado-Boulder
Dr. Dickstein is a specialist in the premodern religious traditions of South Asia. His three areas of research span Yoga Studies, Religious Studies, Critical Animal Studies, Environmental Studies, Diaspora Studies and Comparative Ethics.
Dr. Dickstein’s previous research involved issues of theism, agnosticism, and atheism in yoga traditions. Critical questions involved the existence and role of a supreme deity in effecting a practitioner’s eventual achievement of the goal of liberation. Dr. Dickstein is finalizing an article on theism in the Pātañjala Yogaśāstra and its relevance for the beliefs, sensibilities, and aims of contemporary practitioners. He sees this work as broadly informative on how practitioners in Jain and non-Jain yoga traditions reconcile ancient views on soteriology and ethics with current atheistic trends in yoga practice and yoga-inspired practical ethics.
Currently focused on Animal Studies, Dr. Dickstein’s doctoral work investigated ancient Indic perspectives on domesticated animals, examining animal taxonomies and their relationships to regulations on ritual sacrifice and dietary practice. Ancient Jain texts offer a unique viewpoint on this topic given their emphasis on the sense-faculties of various living beings, and sentience as the basis for human ethical responsibilities towards animals and the environment. In his current scholarship, Dr. Dickstein draws parallels between this Jain viewpoint and contemporary arguments in moral philosophy that reject anthropocentric and species-centric approaches to animal and environmental ethics.
Dr. Dickstein will soon initiate a new research project that connects the long history of animal rescue and caretaking in Jainism with animal rights advocacy in the United States that also promotes the rescue and caretaking of exploited animals. Using an animal sanctuary in Colorado as the field location from which to generate this discussion, Dr. Dickstein will put Jainism’s rich history of caring for animals in conversation with the direct action tactics employed by animal activists to rescue animals from sites of abuse.
Publications
“Veganism as Left Praxis.” Capitalism Nature Socialism 33, no. 3(2022): 56–75.
“Review: Sacred Cows & Chicken Manchurian: The Everyday Politics of Eating Meat in India by James Staples.” Himalaya Journal 40, no. 2 (2021): 164–166.
“Jain Veganism: Ancient Wisdom, New Opportunities.” Religions 12, no. 7 (2021): 512.
“Animal Abuse in Modern Yoga Gastropolitics.” Sacred Matters Magazine, May 16, 2021.
“The Ism in Veganism: The Case for a Minimal Practice-Based Definition.” Food Ethics 6, no. 2 (2021).
“Why Aren’t We All Boycotting Factory Farms?” Sentient Media, October 5, 2020.
“Ahiṃsā.” In La Pensée végane. 50 regards sur la condition animale, ed. Renan Larue. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 2020.
“The Strong Case for Vegetarianism in Pātañjala Yoga.” Philosophy East and West 67, no. 3(2017): 613–628.
Jonathan Dickstein, PhD's Courses
Self-paced
1011 | Jain Approaches to Animal Sentience
Added to cart
1011 | Jain Approaches to Animal Sentience
Jainism’s foundational ethical principle of non-harming assumes that living beings can be harmed by the acts of others. The ability to be harmed by others is not shared by all entities, as neither Jainism or mainstream science maintains that brute objects such as tables or bricks can be, technically speaking, “harmed.” Learn Jain and non-Jain perspectives on the differences between sentient and insentient entities; Jain categorizations of plant and animal life; modern philosophical and scientific approaches to sentience; the relationship of sentience to ethics; and the theoretical and ethical challenges posed by entities such as plants, insects, bivalves, and other beings. All suggested course readings are provided as links and pdfs throughout the course.Learning Objectives:* Answer the question “What is Sentience?” and learn western scientific approaches to sentience* Learn Jain approaches to sentience which consider sense faculties and minds* Understand the connections between sentience, pain, and ethics* Look at sentience “on the fringes” including questions around plants, bivalves, and other beings
$99.00 USD
Instructor
Jonathan Dickstein, PhDSelf-paced
1014 | Jainism, Veganism, and Engaged Religion
Added to cart
1014 | Jainism, Veganism, and Engaged Religion
Committed to nonviolence (ahiṃsā) since its ancient beginnings, the Jain tradition has admonished the mistreatment, slaughter, sacrifice, and consumption of animals for thousands of years. In light of these commitments, Jains have traditionally lived a lacto-vegetarian lifestyle, advocated for the legal protection of animals, and have created sanctuaries for animals for centuries. In ancient and medieval scriptural sources, we even find restrictions on the consumption of dairy itself, suggesting potential pre-modern Jain commitments to what would now be referred to as a vegan lifestyle. And today, many Jains have been advocating for veganism in light of the devastating and irreparable harms involved in the production of dairy in contemporary society. This course carefully considers the philosophical and historical underpinnings of Jain Veganism, presenting an opportunity for non-Jain vegans to discover a rich philosophical system aligned with their values, as well as an opportunity for Jains to appreciate the philosophical resources within their own tradition which naturally lead to living an ethical vegan lifestyle.
Christopher Miller, PhD