Buddhist Illogic : A Critical Analysis of Nagarjuna’s Arguments : A Critical Analysis of Nagarjuna’s Arguments

By Sion, Avi, Dr.

Book Id: WPLBN0100304366
Format Type: PDF eBook:
File Size: 0.1 MB
Reproduction Date: 1/1/2002

Title:	Buddhist Illogic : A Critical Analysis of Nagarjuna’s Arguments : A Critical Analysis of Nagarjuna’s Arguments
Author:	Sion, Avi, Dr.
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	Non Fiction, Philosophy, Buddhism, logic, philosophy
Collections:	Authors Community, Philosophy
Historic Publication Date:	2002
Publisher:	Avi Sion - Kindle

Member Page:	Avi Sion
Citation APA MLA Chicago Avi Sion, B. D. (2002). Buddhist Illogic : A Critical Analysis of Nagarjuna’s Arguments. Retrieved from http://gutenberg.cc/

Description
Buddhist Illogic. The 2nd Century CE Indian philosopher Nagarjuna founded the Madhyamika (Middle Way) school of Mahayana Buddhism, which strongly influenced Chinese, Korean and Japanese (Ch’an or Zen) Buddhism, as well as Tibetan Buddhism. Nagarjuna is regarded by many Buddhist writers to this day as a very important philosopher, who they claim definitively proved the futility of ordinary human cognitive means. His writings include a series of arguments purporting to show the illogic of logic, the absurdity of reason. He considers this the way to verbalize and justify the Buddhist doctrine of “emptiness” (Shunyata). These arguments attack some of the basic tenets and techniques of reasoning, such as the laws of thought (identity, non-contradiction and the excluded middle), conceptualization and predication, our common assumptions of self, entities and essences, as well as our beliefs in motion and causation. The present essay demonstrates the many sophistries involved in Nagarjuna’s arguments. He uses double standards, applying or ignoring the laws of thought and other norms as convenient to his goals; he manipulates his readers, by giving seemingly logical form (like the dilemma) to his discourse, while in fact engaged in non-sequiturs or appealing to doubtful premises; he plays with words, relying on unclear terminology, misleading equivocations and unfair fixations of meaning; and he ‘steals concepts’, using them to deny the very percepts on which they are based. Although a critique of the Madhyamika philosophical interpretation and defense of “emptiness”, Buddhist Illogic is not intended to dissuade readers from Buddhism. On the contrary, its aim to enhance personal awareness of actual cognitive processes, and so improve meditation. It is also an excellent primer on phenomenological epistemology.

Summary
The 2nd Century CE Indian philosopher Nagarjuna founded the Madhyamika (Middle Way) school of Mahayana Buddhism, which strongly influenced Chinese, Korean and Japanese Buddhism, as well as Tibetan Buddhism. His writings include a series of arguments purporting to show the illogic of logic, the absurdity of reason. He considers this the way to verbalize and justify the Buddhist doctrine of “emptiness” (Shunyata). The present essay demonstrates the many sophistries involved in Nagarjuna’s arguments.

Table of Contents
FOREWORD 7 1. THE TETRALEMMA 13 2. NEITHER REAL NOR UNREAL 21 3. NAGARJUNA’S USE OF DILEMMA 33 4. THE SUBJECT-PREDICATE RELATION 37 5. PERCEPTS AND CONCEPTS 47 6. MOTION AND REST 73 7. CAUSALITY 99 8. CO-DEPENDENCE 123 9. KARMIC LAW 141 10. GOD AND CREATION 147 11. SELF OR SOUL 169 12. SELF-KNOWLEDGE 185 AFTERWORD: NOT ‘EMPTY LOGIC’, BUT EMPTY OF LOGIC 197 APPENDIXES: 1. FALLACIES IN NAGARJUNA’S WORK 206 2. BRIEF GLOSSARY OF SOME BASIC CONCEPTS 209