Anti-Realisms Local and Global

2021 ◽  
pp. 171-192
Author(s):  
Mark Siderits
Keyword(s):  
Buddhist Philosophy ◽  
Ultimate Truth ◽  
Intrinsic Nature ◽  
Metaphysical Realist ◽  
Ultimate Nature

The Madhyamaka school of Buddhist philosophy rejects the metaphysical realist thesis that there is such a thing as how things are anyway, independently of the concepts we happen to use. While other Buddhist schools claim that such things as persons, trees, and tables are mere useful fictions, they maintain that these fictions are usefully grounded in facts about the ultimate nature of reality. Not so Mādhyamikas, who are pan-fictionalists. They support this stance by seeking to demonstrate that various hypotheses concerning things with intrinsic nature (things that are thus purported to be ultimately real) lead to absurdities. The conclusion one is invited to draw is that all things are empty, that is, devoid of intrinsic nature. Some sample reductios are examined, and various realist objections are considered. Several different interpretations of Madhyamaka anti-realism are discussed, with a semantic non-dualist reading, to the effect that the very idea of ultimate truth is incoherent, being judged the most plausible.

Nāgārjuna (c. AD 150–200)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Siderits
Keyword(s):  
East Asia ◽  
South India ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Ultimate Truth ◽  
Profound Influence ◽  
Inherent Nature ◽  
Further Development ◽  
In Virtue Of ◽  
Ultimate Nature ◽  
Insight Into

Nāgārjuna was the first Buddhist philosopher to articulate and seek to defend the claim that all things are empty, that is, devoid of their own essential nature. A native of South India, as the founder of the Madhyamaka school of Mahāyāna Buddhism he exerted a profound influence on the further development of Buddhist thought in South and East Asia. When he claimed that all things are empty, he denied that anything exists solely in virtue of its own inherent nature. If, as all Buddhists hold, existents only arise in dependence on other existents, then nothing may be said to have a determinate nature apart from its relations to other things. Yet prior developments in Buddhist philosophy had presumably shown that anything lacking an independent nature is a conceptual fiction and not ultimately real. Thus if all things are empty, nothing is ultimately real. Still Nāgārjuna claimed not to be a nihilist. Emptiness is rather the defeat of all metaphysical theories, all attempts at grasping the ultimate nature of reality – including nihilism. Insight into emptiness is said to free us from our tendency conceptually to construct an ultimate truth, a tendency that bolsters our sense of self. Thus realization of emptiness is, Nāgārjuna held, required in order to attain full liberation from the suffering caused by clinging.

Fundamental Ontology

2021 ◽  
pp. 47-71
Author(s):  
Mark Siderits
Keyword(s):  
Buddhist Philosophy ◽  
Fundamental Ontology ◽  
Mereological Nihilism ◽  
Ultimate Nature

This chapter discusses three crucial metaphysical theses endorsed and argued for by all schools of Indian Buddhist philosophy: mereological nihilism, anti-substantialism, and momentariness. The “neither identical nor distinct” argument for mereological nihilism is presented and evaluated, and its consequence for fundamental ontology—that only entities with intrinsic natures are strictly speaking real—is explored. One important result, that only tropes and not substances as property-possessors belong in our ultimate ontology, is discussed. Two arguments for momentariness are presented: the argument from cessation and an argument from the nature of existence. Out of this investigation there should emerge a clearer picture of the Buddhist conception of just what the ultimate nature of reality would have to be like.

Reflections on Eviatar Shulman’s Rethinking the Buddha: Early Buddhist Philosophy as Meditative Perception

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 293-300
Author(s):  
Peter Harvey
Keyword(s):  
Buddhist Philosophy ◽  
The Buddha

Reflections on Eviatar Shulman’s Rethinking the Buddha: Early Buddhist Philosophy as Meditative Perception

Inflections of Periodicities of Background Photon Spectral Power Densities Are Predicted by the Lorentz Contraction for a Potential Indicator for the Intrinsic Structure of Space

2016 ◽  
pp. 4014-4017
Author(s):  
Michael A Persinger
Keyword(s):  
Spectral Power ◽  
Neutral Hydrogen ◽  
Intrinsic Structure ◽  
Lorentz Contraction ◽  
Intrinsic Nature ◽  
Basic Interval ◽  
Power Spectral ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Background Photon ◽  
Power Densities

                The value for the Lorentz contraction to produce a discrepancy for a hypothetical number that reflects a property (21.3π4) of sub-matter space was calculated. When applied to time the contraction would be ~35 min. The difference in mass-equivalent energy for an electron at c (the velocity of light in a vacuum) and the required v was ~2 ·10-20 J which has emerged as a significant quantity that may permeate from the force at Planck’s Length when applied across the wavelength of the neutral hydrogen line. Two separate types of photomultiplier instruments (digital and analogue) measuring with different sampling rates for background photon quantities over 50 randomly selected days demonstrated averaged conspicuous inflections of standardized spectral power densities around 35 min. This is the same basic interval where microvariations in the value of the gravitational constant (G) approached a limit at which white noise dominated.  The possibility is considered that this value for temporal inflections in photon power spectral densities may reflect the intrinsic nature of space-time contractions that relate gravity and photons.

Symposium on Suffering, the Self, and Self-conceptions

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eyal Aviv ◽  
Bryce Huebner ◽  
Emily McRae ◽  
Tad Zawidzki
Keyword(s):  
International Society ◽  
Buddhist Philosophy ◽  
The Self ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
American Philosophical Association

The papers that are included in this symposium where initially presented during a session of the International Society for Buddhist Philosophy, which was held at the American Philosophical Association in Baltimore on January 4, 2017. And over the course of the next year, these papers were revised to be included in a special issue of the Journal of Buddhist Philosophy. That special issue was never published; and since the papers were written as symposium, we have decided to present them together here.

The concepts of Ayurveda and Pāli Literature in connection to Psychotherapy

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kolarkar Rajesh Shivajirao ◽  
Kolarkar Rajashree Rajesh
Keyword(s):  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Laws Of Nature ◽  
Code Of Conduct ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Ultimate Truth ◽  
Traditional System ◽  
The World ◽  
Mind And Body ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Buddha

The perfect balance of Mind and body is considered as complete health in Pāli literature as well as in Ayurveda. Pāli literature and Ayurveda have their own identity as most ancient and traditional system of medicine in India.The universal teachings of the Buddha are the most precious legacy ancient India gave to the world. The teachings are a practical code of conduct, a way of purity and of gracious living. There is a scientific study of the truth pertaining to mind and matter, and the ultimate truth beyond. In fact, the Buddha should be more appropriately known as a super-scientist who studied the entire laws of nature governing the Universe, by direct personal experience. The Buddha's rational teachings are clearly explained in the Eight-fold Noble Path, divided in three divisions of Sīla (morality), Samādhi (mastery over the mind), Paññā i.e. ‘Pragya' (purification of the mind, by developing insight). In Ayurveda Psychotherapy can be done by Satvavajaya Chikitsa and good conduct. Aim is to augment the Satva Guna in order to correct the imbalance in state of Rajas (Passion) and Tamas (Inertia). Sattvavajaya as psychotherapy, is the mental restraint, or a "mind control" as referred by Caraka, as well as Vagbhata is achieved Dnyan (education), Vidnyan (training in developing skill), Dhairya (development of coping mechanism), Smruti (memory enhancement), Samadhi (concentration of mind). According to WHO, Mental disorders are the common problem. The burden of mental disorders continues to grow with significant impacts on health and major social, human rights and economic consequences in all countries of the world.

Madhyamaka

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Westerhoff
Keyword(s):  
Prima Facie ◽  
Buddhist Philosophy ◽  
The Third ◽  
General Overview ◽  
Philosophical Project

The chapter begins by presenting a general overview of the rise of the Mahāyāna and its relation to the main schools of Buddhist philosophy associated with it, Madhyamaka and Yogācāra. This is followed by an introduction to the Madhyamaka school proper, focusing on the life and works of its founder, Nāgārjuna. The third section of the chapter examines the foundational sūtras of the Madhyamaka school, the Prajñāpāramitā or Perfection of Wisdom texts, focusing on their criticism of the Abhidharma philosophical project, their comprehensive illusionism, and their prima facie acceptance of contradictions. This is followed by an account of how these themes play a key role in the Madhyamaka system as set out by Nāgārjuna. The chapter then turns to examining the philosophical contributions of major Madhyamaka thinkers such as Buddhapālita, Bhāviveka, Candrakīrti, Śāntarakṣita, and Kamalaśīla. The chapter concludes by a discussion of the relation between Madhyamaka and Nyāya.

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