It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of our colleague and dear friend, Anand Vaidya. He was 48 years old, and was surrounded by family in his final moments on October 11, 2024. Born on January 4, 1976 in Chicago, Illinois, Anand was the son of Jay Vaidya and the late Varsha Vaidya. He is survived by his wife Manju Menon, his brother Tony Vaidya (wife Kristina Shah), and niece (Karina Vaidya). Anand died of cancer.
Known by those close to him as adventurous and grounded, a wanderer with depth, and a visionary who was attuned to the practicalities of life, Anand lived a dynamic and rich life. He spent most of his childhood in Saudi Arabia, with periods also spent in India, Germany, and the United States (Texas, New Jersey, and California). He was a great lover of music and himself a skilled guitarist (he even performed at clubs in Santa Monica, California, among other places). In 2005 he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he later met his wife, Manju (Menon).
He formally began his studies in Philosophy as an undergraduate at Humbolt State University (northern California). He soon transferred to University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he finished his BA in Philosophy in 1998 (with a focus on modal logic, the metaphysics of modality, Kant, and Wittgenstein). He continued his studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), taking an interest in philosophy of mind and epistemology, and writing his dissertation on the epistemology of modality. Soon after completing his PhD at UCSB in 2005, he landed an Assistant Professor position at San Jose State University (SJSU). He quickly advanced, earning tenure in 2010 and promotion to full Professor in 2015. Though relatively young, Anand earned many notable honors. He was Professor of Business Ethics and the Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence at SJSU, as well as Visiting Professor of Indian Philosophy of Mind and Knowledge at UCLA. Notably, this was the first time that UCLA had ever taught courses related to India through its Philosophy Department, and Anand was chosen for the job.
Anand’s depth and breadth as a person are evident in his publishing career. Following his PhD studies, he made a tremendous impact in the fields of logic, philosophy of mind, and analytic epistemology (especially modal logic and the epistemology of modality). He also wrote in other areas of professional Philosophy, including Husserlian phenomenology, philosophy and AI, and business ethics.
Unlike most academic philosophers, Anand committed to bringing Philosophy to the public and sparking conversations that crossed boundaries. His list of public philosophy papers, presentations, and podcast interviews is long. (He continued to write even during his final months, publishing papers on terminal illness and the ethics of suicide.) Anand was a community builder, and worked tirelessly to bring others into fruitful dialogue. Never territorial, he was a self-proclaimed “trespasser” across disciplinary, social, and cultural borders: he strove “to bring people together for a larger, more significant conversation through unification and participating in a variety of communities” (Anand’s own words).
Those in the field of Asian and Comparative Philosophy are especially grateful. From 2010-2015, Anand served as the Director of the Center for Comparative Philosophy at his home university, SJSU. Within a few years, he transformed himself into one of the leading figures in the field of Indian Philosophy. Since 2013, he published several papers and gave countless scholarly presentations related to Indian schools of thought—most especially, Nyāya, Vedānta, and Jain and Buddhist schools. He brought these traditions into dialogue with Western philosophies in order to disclose new horizons of thinking about a wide range of topics in logic, critical thinking education, epistemology, and philosophy of mind.
In addition to his impressive publication record, Anand helped to found academic societies (e.g., the Society for Yoga and Philosophy), he mentored philosophers at all stages of their careers, and he collaborated with others to sponsor major conferences (such as, opening new space for Asian philosophies at the annual meetings for the American Philosophical Association).
Anand was a tremendous thinker whose star was still rising. But for the many gifts that he offered to Philosophy and philosophers, those who knew him will remember most his endearing character, generous spirit, and unfailing friendship. Anand, you will be missed by so many.
