Buddhist Ethics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay L. Garfield
Keyword(s):  
Moral Philosophy ◽  
Buddhist Philosophy ◽  
Ethical Reflection ◽  
Buddhist Ethics ◽  
Ethical Thought ◽  
Buddhist Literature ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Moral Phenomenology ◽  
Distinct Approach ◽  
The Way

This volume is one of a series of monographs on Buddhist philosophy for philosophers. It presents an outline of Buddhist ethical thought, presenting Buddhist ethical reflection as a distinct approach, or rather set of approaches, to moral philosophy. The book draws on a range of Buddhist philosophers to exhibit the internal diversity of the tradition as well as the lineaments that demonstrate its overarching integrity. This includes early Pāli texts, medieval Indian commentarial literature and philosophical treatises, Tibetan commentaries and treatises, and contemporary Buddhist literature. It argues that Buddhist ethics is best understood not as a species of any Western ethical tradition, but instead as a kind of moral phenomenology, and that it is particularist in its orientation. The book addresses both methodological and doctrinal issues and concludes with a study of the way that Buddhist ethical thought is relevant in the contemporary world.

The Broad Structure of Buddhist Ethics

2021 ◽  
pp. 18-28
Author(s):  
Jay L. Garfield
Keyword(s):  
Virtue Theory ◽  
Buddhist Ethics ◽  
Ethical Thought ◽  
Moral Agents ◽  
Moral Phenomenology ◽  
Deontological Theory ◽  
Consequentialist Theory ◽  
Broad Structure ◽  
The Way

This chapter argues that Buddhist ethics does not fit into any of the standard Western metaethical theories. It is neither an instance of a virtue theory, nor of a deontological theory, nor of a consequentialist theory. It is closer to a sentimentalist theory, but different from those as well. Instead, it defends a reading of Buddhist ethics as a moral phenomenology and as particularist, utilizing casuistic reasoning. That is, Buddhist ethics is concerned primarily with the transformation of experience, of the way we perceive ourselves and other moral agents and patients. This chapter also argues that the metaphor of path structures Buddhist ethical thought.

scholarly journals Progress and Free Will: On the Buddhist Concept of “Time” and Its Possibilities for Modernity

Asian Studies ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bart DESSEIN
Keyword(s):  
Free Will ◽  
Buddhist Philosophy ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Way

An even only cursory glance at the way Buddhism is experienced, interpreted, and lived in the contemporary world––both Western and Oriental––reveals Buddhism’s multiple “modern faces”. This paper does not intend to describe all or even a selected group of these many faces, but attempts to contribute to our understanding of how peculiar developments within Buddhist philosophy have made it possible that such a variety of “Buddhist modernities” could develop. It is shown that it is the peculiar Buddhist interpretation of the concept of time that has provided the basis on which the various modern features of Buddhism could build, because the Buddhist interpretation of time contains an aspect of progress and free will. It is suggested that these two aspects increased the prominence given to the individual adept in the Mahāyāna. The article then claims that it precisely are the ideas of rationality, progress and individualism that are also characteristic for the modern world that contain the possibility for Buddhism to develop its multitude of modern faces. 

Path as a Structure for Buddhist Ethics

2021 ◽  
pp. 90-108
Author(s):  
Jay L. Garfield
Keyword(s):  
Buddhist Ethics ◽  
Buddhist Literature ◽  
Moral Phenomenology

This chapter examines the use of the path metaphor in Buddhist ethics, connecting it to the emphasis on moral phenomenology and to the particularism of Buddhist ethics. It discusses how the concept of a path is used in Buddhist literature, in both the internal and external sense, as well as how these paths may be both followed and cultivated by practitioners. Various uses of this metaphor are addressed throughout the chapter, as well as the objectives and methods associated with each. Discussion includes the eightfold path, the path of purification, the graduated path, the bodhisattva path, and the tantric path.

Buddhist Ethics as Moral Phenomenology

2021 ◽  
pp. 29-42
Author(s):  
Jay L. Garfield
Keyword(s):  
Moral Experience ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Buddhist Ethics ◽  
Moral Self ◽  
Moral Phenomenology ◽  
Buddhist Practice ◽  
The World ◽  
The Way

This chapter explains Buddhist ethics as moral phenomenology, that is, as a theory of the transformation of our moral experience of ourselves, others, and the world. It compares Buddhist “input ethics” to Western “output ethics” and explains how Buddhist practice aims at developing a less pathological, less egocentric view of our place in the world by cultivating a sense of interdependence. The discussion is grounded in Śāntideva’s Bodhicāryāvatāra, and explores his insights on anger, aversion, vice, and generosity. Śāntideva argues for the importance of developing our moral self-awareness, and changing the way we view suffering, both of ourselves and others.

Nietzsche and Contemporary Ethics

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Robertson
Keyword(s):  
Moral Psychology ◽  
Moral Philosophy ◽  
Practical Reason ◽  
Value Theory ◽  
Critical Assessment ◽  
Normative Ethics ◽  
Ethical Thought ◽  
Normative Authority ◽  
Moral Theories ◽  
Principal Parts

Nietzsche is one of the most subversive ethical thinkers of the Western canon. This book offers a critical assessment of his ethical thought and its significance for contemporary moral philosophy. It develops a charitable but critical reading of his thought, pushing some claims and arguments as far as seems fruitful while rejecting others. But it also uses Nietzsche in dialogue with, so to contribute to, a range of long-standing issues within normative ethics, metaethics, value theory, practical reason, and moral psychology. The book is divided into three principal parts. Part I examines Nietzsche’s critique of morality, arguing that it raises well-motivated challenges to morality’s normative authority and value: his error theory about morality’s categoricity is in a better position than many contemporary versions; and his critique of moral values has bite even against undemanding moral theories, with significant implications not just for rarefied excellent types but also us. Part II turns to moral psychology, attributing to Nietzsche and defending a sentimentalist explanation of action and motivation. Part III considers his non-moral perfectionism, developing models of value and practical normativity that avoid difficulties facing many contemporary accounts and that may therefore be of wider interest. The discussion concludes by considering Nietzsche’s broader significance: as well as calling into question many of moral philosophy’s deepest assumptions, he challenges our usual views of what ethics itself is—and what it, and we, should be doing.

Stupid Goodness

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Garrett Cullity
Keyword(s):  
Moral Philosophy ◽  
Paradise Lost ◽  
Real Life ◽  
The Way

In Paradise Lost, Satan’s first sight of Eve in Eden renders him “Stupidly good”: his state is one of admirable yet inarticulate responsiveness to reasons. Turning from fiction to real life, this chapter argues that stupid goodness is an important moral phenomenon, but one that has limits. The chapter examines three questions about the relation between having a reason and saying what it is—between normativity and articulacy. Is it possible to have and respond to morally relevant reasons without being able to articulate them? Can moral inarticulacy be good, and if so, what is the value of moral articulacy? And, thirdly, can moral philosophy help us to be good? The chapter argues that morality has an inarticulacy-accepting part, an articulacy-encouraging part, an articulacy-surpassing part, and an articulacy-discouraging part. Along the way, an account is proposed of what it is to respond to the reasons that make up the substance of morality.

scholarly journals The Role Of Buddhist Ethics And Communication In The Contemporary World Crisis

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 155
Author(s):  
Phramaha Pornchai Sripakdee
Keyword(s):  
Critical Examination ◽  
Buddhist Ethics ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
World Crisis

<p><em>In reality, man cannot live without communication; at least, he communicates something with himself, thoughts, for instance. In order to successfully communicate something as such, ethics concerning any kinds of communication should be taken into a critical examination; what kind of speech one should speak out, what kind of speech one should not speak out. In this article, an attempt was purposely made to discuss the role of Buddhist ethics and communication in the contemporary world crisis. In this, it is argued by Buddhist ethics that the communication should be subject to ethics because of man’s ideal life, without it, such communication will pose the danger to the chance in obtaining the goal, ideal life. </em></p>

scholarly journals Brutus' Ultimum dilemma or Is there a moral justification for killing Caesar?

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 517-534
Author(s):  
Evgenij Derzhivitskij ◽  
Vadim Perov ◽  
Andrey Polozhentsev
Keyword(s):  
Public Good ◽  
Public Utility ◽  
Moral Justification ◽  
Moral Choice ◽  
Ethical Thought ◽  
Philosophical Reflection ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Purpose ◽  
Political Works ◽  
The Way

The article examines how to apply moral and philosophical reflection in the commission of a crime. An action is the result of solving an equation with many variables. This is overcoming legal, moral, philosophical, and emotional contradictions. However, modern legal and ethical thought closes the way for understanding its causes and motives. As an example, we examine the conspiracy and murder of Caesar in Rome in 44 BC. The article reveals objective differences in the understanding of morality in antiquity and in modern ethical science. Here we analyze the philosophical and ethical grounds that will help solve this dilemma. First of all, we considered the philosophical and political works and letters of Cicero. His reasoning about the duties of a citizen might have influenced Brutus' decision to participate in the conspiracy against Caesar and accept the moral choice as his fate. Brutus did not act as a murderer, but as an exponent of public purpose and public utility, for whom the purpose of the act was the public good, incompatible with tyranny.

scholarly journals The Significance of “mushin”: The Essential Mind of Zen Buddhist Philosophy for Humans in a Contemporary World

Asian Studies ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hisaki HASHI
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Mind ◽  
Creative Thinking ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Buddhist Philosophy ◽  
Digital Networks ◽  
Human Origin ◽  
Dynamic Approach ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Zen Buddhist

In our time of an information highway, digital networks are linked around the clock. Among various data many people are unconsciously depending on IT and digital medias with their body––but without any mind. The human origin, its creative thinking and acting, transmitting one idea to another for reforming and developing something new has been quite forgotten. Against this omnipresent phenomenon the Zen Buddhist Philosophy of Mind shows a dynamic approach to re-create and re-construct a human life, accompanied by the unique concept of the absolute one, “mu” (無), mu-shin (無心), the mind of mu presents a dynamic unity in its flexible activity.

A Life Lived

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin Y. Park
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Buddhist Philosophy ◽  
Western Philosophy ◽  
Philosophy Of Life ◽  
Different Dimensions ◽  
Male Dominated ◽  
The Way

Chapter 7 aims to identify the nature of women’s Buddhist philosophy. Iryŏp’s approach to Buddhism also directs us to different dimensions in which women encounter Buddhist philosophy, which is identified as narrative philosophy, philosophy of life, based on lived experience. By examining Kim Iryŏp’s life and philosophy as a paradigmatic example of women’s philosophy in connection with Buddhism, this chapter brings attention to the way women engage with Buddhism and philosophy and offers a way of philosophizing that challenges the male dominated and Western philosophy based mode of philosophizing.

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