In conversation, in the lecture hall, in the Dharma centre and in the public teaching, Buddhists ... more In conversation, in the lecture hall, in the Dharma centre and in the public teaching, Buddhists and students of Buddhism worry about authenticity. Is the doctrine defended in a particular text or is a particular textual interpretation authentic? Is a particular teacher authentic? Is a particular practice authentic? Is a phenomenon under examination in a scholarly research project authentically Buddhist?
* Thanks to Nalini Bhushan, Caroline Sluyter, Susanne Mrozik and Jan Westerhoff for useful commen... more * Thanks to Nalini Bhushan, Caroline Sluyter, Susanne Mrozik and Jan Westerhoff for useful comments on an earlier draft of this essay, and to Barbra Clayton for insightful critique at the International Association of Buddhist Studies XVth Congress. Thanks especially to Steve Jenkins for an extensive, challenging critique, from which I have learned much, and which has improved this paper. Any errors that remain are my own, and probably reflect my inattention to what my colleagues have pointed out.
Thus people today stop at the laws of nature, treating them as something inviolable, just as God ... more Thus people today stop at the laws of nature, treating them as something inviolable, just as God and Fate were treated in past ages. And in fact both are right and both wrong: though the view of the ancients is clearer in so far as they have a clear and acknowledged terminus, while the modern system tries to make it look as if everything were explained. Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 6.371, 6.372
The problem of the Freedom of the Will appears to the modern Western sensibility as an obvious an... more The problem of the Freedom of the Will appears to the modern Western sensibility as an obvious and natural problem, and is often taken to be one of those perennial philosophical questions that arises simply upon reflection. Nonetheless, the problem as we know it in the Western philosophical and religious tradition is in fact a very specific cultural and religious artifact. For this problem to arise at all, one needs to have a will, and a sense of the possibility of uncaused agent causation, as well as a thesis of causal determinism.
Mill, John Stuart, 1806-1873. System of logic, ratiocinative and inductive [electronic resource]:... more Mill, John Stuart, 1806-1873. System of logic, ratiocinative and inductive [electronic resource]: being a connected view of the principles of evidence, and the methods of scientific investigation/by John Stuart Mill., 9th ed. London: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, 1875. Electronic book-click Linked Resources tab for access BC91. M5 1875
Abstract Huntington (2007); argues that recent commentators (Robinson, 1957; Hayes, 1994; Tillema... more Abstract Huntington (2007); argues that recent commentators (Robinson, 1957; Hayes, 1994; Tillemans, 1999; Garfield and Priest, 2002) err in attributing to Nāgārjuna and Candrakīrti a commitment to rationality and to the use of argument, and that these commentators do violence to the Madhyamaka project by using rational reconstruction in their interpretation of Nāgārjuna's and Candrakīrti's texts. Huntington argues instead that mādhyamikas reject reasoning, distrust logic and do not offer arguments.
This is not a general essay on the craft and institution of translation, though some of the claim... more This is not a general essay on the craft and institution of translation, though some of the claims and arguments I proffer here might generalize.
1. Introduction Nagarjuna, who lived in South India in approximately the first century CE, is und... more 1. Introduction Nagarjuna, who lived in South India in approximately the first century CE, is undoubtedly the most important, influential, and widely studied Mahayana Buddhist philosopher. He is the founder of the Madhyamika, or Middle Path, schools of Mahayana Buddhism.
Abstract: Mādhyamika philosophers in India and Tibet distinguish between two truths: the conventi... more Abstract: Mādhyamika philosophers in India and Tibet distinguish between two truths: the conventional and the ultimate. It is difficult, however, to say in what sense conventional truth is indeed a truth, as opposed to falsehood. Indeed, many passages in prominent texts suggest that it is entirely false. It is explained here in the sense in which, for Candrakīrti and Tsong khapa, conventional truth is truth.
Enthusiasts for the scientific character of Buddhism wax eloquent regarding the insights that the... more Enthusiasts for the scientific character of Buddhism wax eloquent regarding the insights that the Buddhist tradition can deliver to cognitive science, and the contributions that meditative technique can make to understanding cognitive and affective processes. To be sure, there are contributions in this direction, though their significance may be overestimated. Less attention is paid to the value of cognitive theory for developing Buddhist insights in the 21 st Century, and the role of science in the dissemination of Buddhism in the modern world.
Presidential Seminars (PRS) are interdisciplinary seminars that provide advanced students (junior... more Presidential Seminars (PRS) are interdisciplinary seminars that provide advanced students (juniors and seniors) with an opportunity to grapple with complex, challenging problems that require multiple disciplinary perspectives and methods to analyze them. These seminars enable juniors and seniors to bring to bear their talents and apply their acquired knowledge to problems of significance.
The argument from fine tuning is supposed to establish the existence of God from the fact that th... more The argument from fine tuning is supposed to establish the existence of God from the fact that the evolution of carbon-based life requires the laws of physics and the boundary conditions of the universe to be more or less as they are. We demonstrate that this argument fails. In particular, we focus on problems associated with the role probabilities play in the argument.
Nāgārjuna argues for the fundamental importance of causality, and dependence more generally, to o... more Nāgārjuna argues for the fundamental importance of causality, and dependence more generally, to our understanding of reality and of human life: his account of these matters is generally correct.
Nāgārjuna seems willing to embrace contradictions while at the same time making use of classic re... more Nāgārjuna seems willing to embrace contradictions while at the same time making use of classic reductio arguments. He asserts that he rejects all philosophical views including his own--that he asserts nothing--and appears to mean it. It is argued here that he, like many philosophers in the West and, indeed, like many of his Buddhist colleagues, discovers and explores true contradictions arising at the limits of thought.
There are two temptations to be resisted when approaching Buddhist moral theory. The first is to ... more There are two temptations to be resisted when approaching Buddhist moral theory. The first is to assimilate Buddhist ethics to some system of Western ethics, usually either some form of Utilitarianism or some form of virtue ethics. The second is to portray Buddhist ethical thought as constituting some grand system resembling those that populate Western metaethics. The first temptation, of course, can be avoided simply by avoiding the second.
In a recent issue of Philosophy East and West Douglas Berger defends a new reading of Mūlamadhyam... more In a recent issue of Philosophy East and West Douglas Berger defends a new reading of Mūlamadhyamakakārikā XXIV: 18, arguing that most contemporary translators mistranslate the important term prajnaptir upādāya, misreading it as a compound indicating “dependent designation” or something of the sort, instead of taking it simply to mean “this notion, once acquired.” He attributes this alleged error, pervasive in modern scholarship, to Candrakīrti, who, Berger correctly notes, argues for the interpretation he rejects.
In conversation, in the lecture hall, in the Dharma centre and in the public teaching, Buddhists ... more In conversation, in the lecture hall, in the Dharma centre and in the public teaching, Buddhists and students of Buddhism worry about authenticity. Is the doctrine defended in a particular text or is a particular textual interpretation authentic? Is a particular teacher authentic? Is a particular practice authentic? Is a phenomenon under examination in a scholarly research project authentically Buddhist?
* Thanks to Nalini Bhushan, Caroline Sluyter, Susanne Mrozik and Jan Westerhoff for useful commen... more * Thanks to Nalini Bhushan, Caroline Sluyter, Susanne Mrozik and Jan Westerhoff for useful comments on an earlier draft of this essay, and to Barbra Clayton for insightful critique at the International Association of Buddhist Studies XVth Congress. Thanks especially to Steve Jenkins for an extensive, challenging critique, from which I have learned much, and which has improved this paper. Any errors that remain are my own, and probably reflect my inattention to what my colleagues have pointed out.
Thus people today stop at the laws of nature, treating them as something inviolable, just as God ... more Thus people today stop at the laws of nature, treating them as something inviolable, just as God and Fate were treated in past ages. And in fact both are right and both wrong: though the view of the ancients is clearer in so far as they have a clear and acknowledged terminus, while the modern system tries to make it look as if everything were explained. Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 6.371, 6.372
The problem of the Freedom of the Will appears to the modern Western sensibility as an obvious an... more The problem of the Freedom of the Will appears to the modern Western sensibility as an obvious and natural problem, and is often taken to be one of those perennial philosophical questions that arises simply upon reflection. Nonetheless, the problem as we know it in the Western philosophical and religious tradition is in fact a very specific cultural and religious artifact. For this problem to arise at all, one needs to have a will, and a sense of the possibility of uncaused agent causation, as well as a thesis of causal determinism.
Mill, John Stuart, 1806-1873. System of logic, ratiocinative and inductive [electronic resource]:... more Mill, John Stuart, 1806-1873. System of logic, ratiocinative and inductive [electronic resource]: being a connected view of the principles of evidence, and the methods of scientific investigation/by John Stuart Mill., 9th ed. London: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, 1875. Electronic book-click Linked Resources tab for access BC91. M5 1875
Abstract Huntington (2007); argues that recent commentators (Robinson, 1957; Hayes, 1994; Tillema... more Abstract Huntington (2007); argues that recent commentators (Robinson, 1957; Hayes, 1994; Tillemans, 1999; Garfield and Priest, 2002) err in attributing to Nāgārjuna and Candrakīrti a commitment to rationality and to the use of argument, and that these commentators do violence to the Madhyamaka project by using rational reconstruction in their interpretation of Nāgārjuna's and Candrakīrti's texts. Huntington argues instead that mādhyamikas reject reasoning, distrust logic and do not offer arguments.
This is not a general essay on the craft and institution of translation, though some of the claim... more This is not a general essay on the craft and institution of translation, though some of the claims and arguments I proffer here might generalize.
1. Introduction Nagarjuna, who lived in South India in approximately the first century CE, is und... more 1. Introduction Nagarjuna, who lived in South India in approximately the first century CE, is undoubtedly the most important, influential, and widely studied Mahayana Buddhist philosopher. He is the founder of the Madhyamika, or Middle Path, schools of Mahayana Buddhism.
Abstract: Mādhyamika philosophers in India and Tibet distinguish between two truths: the conventi... more Abstract: Mādhyamika philosophers in India and Tibet distinguish between two truths: the conventional and the ultimate. It is difficult, however, to say in what sense conventional truth is indeed a truth, as opposed to falsehood. Indeed, many passages in prominent texts suggest that it is entirely false. It is explained here in the sense in which, for Candrakīrti and Tsong khapa, conventional truth is truth.
Enthusiasts for the scientific character of Buddhism wax eloquent regarding the insights that the... more Enthusiasts for the scientific character of Buddhism wax eloquent regarding the insights that the Buddhist tradition can deliver to cognitive science, and the contributions that meditative technique can make to understanding cognitive and affective processes. To be sure, there are contributions in this direction, though their significance may be overestimated. Less attention is paid to the value of cognitive theory for developing Buddhist insights in the 21 st Century, and the role of science in the dissemination of Buddhism in the modern world.
Presidential Seminars (PRS) are interdisciplinary seminars that provide advanced students (junior... more Presidential Seminars (PRS) are interdisciplinary seminars that provide advanced students (juniors and seniors) with an opportunity to grapple with complex, challenging problems that require multiple disciplinary perspectives and methods to analyze them. These seminars enable juniors and seniors to bring to bear their talents and apply their acquired knowledge to problems of significance.
The argument from fine tuning is supposed to establish the existence of God from the fact that th... more The argument from fine tuning is supposed to establish the existence of God from the fact that the evolution of carbon-based life requires the laws of physics and the boundary conditions of the universe to be more or less as they are. We demonstrate that this argument fails. In particular, we focus on problems associated with the role probabilities play in the argument.
Nāgārjuna argues for the fundamental importance of causality, and dependence more generally, to o... more Nāgārjuna argues for the fundamental importance of causality, and dependence more generally, to our understanding of reality and of human life: his account of these matters is generally correct.
Nāgārjuna seems willing to embrace contradictions while at the same time making use of classic re... more Nāgārjuna seems willing to embrace contradictions while at the same time making use of classic reductio arguments. He asserts that he rejects all philosophical views including his own--that he asserts nothing--and appears to mean it. It is argued here that he, like many philosophers in the West and, indeed, like many of his Buddhist colleagues, discovers and explores true contradictions arising at the limits of thought.
There are two temptations to be resisted when approaching Buddhist moral theory. The first is to ... more There are two temptations to be resisted when approaching Buddhist moral theory. The first is to assimilate Buddhist ethics to some system of Western ethics, usually either some form of Utilitarianism or some form of virtue ethics. The second is to portray Buddhist ethical thought as constituting some grand system resembling those that populate Western metaethics. The first temptation, of course, can be avoided simply by avoiding the second.
In a recent issue of Philosophy East and West Douglas Berger defends a new reading of Mūlamadhyam... more In a recent issue of Philosophy East and West Douglas Berger defends a new reading of Mūlamadhyamakakārikā XXIV: 18, arguing that most contemporary translators mistranslate the important term prajnaptir upādāya, misreading it as a compound indicating “dependent designation” or something of the sort, instead of taking it simply to mean “this notion, once acquired.” He attributes this alleged error, pervasive in modern scholarship, to Candrakīrti, who, Berger correctly notes, argues for the interpretation he rejects.
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