Taking language as its general theme, this book explores how the tradition of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist philosophical speculation exemplifies the character of scholasticism. Scholasticism, as an abstract and general category, is developed as a valuable theoretical tool for understanding a variety of intellectual movements in the history of philosophy of religion. The book investigates the Buddhist Scholastic theory and use of scripture, the nature of doctrine and its transcendence in experience, Mahayana Buddhist hermeneutics, the theory and practice of exegesis, and questions (...) concerning the authority of sacred texts. It also deals with the Buddhist Scholastic theory of conceptual thought as the mirror of language, the Scholastic defense of logic and rationality as a method, as well as the role of language in the idealist and nominalist ontologies of the Mahayana. Finally, the author treats the question of ineffability and the silence of the Buddha from a new perspective. (shrink)

Leading scholars in the field of religious studies show that scholasticism as a comparative category is useful in the analysis of a variety of religious and philosophical traditions and even in the task of cultural criticism.

Se revisan las prácticas fotográficas en los territorios asociados a la producción y sus consecuencias en el Chile contemporáneo, incluyendo cómo se hizo la selección y categorización del campo para construir un cuerpo de estudio con 28 casos. Con este se opera un análisis crítico, actualizándolo dentro de la discusión que ubica a la fotografía tensada entre la producción de «obra» y la de «documentos», y se recurre a las «poéticas de la fotografía del paisaje» propuestas por Santos Zunzunegui. Así (...) se hace evidente cómo la veladura del hecho estético sobre la fotografía deja ver, debajo de ella, el dolor irritante de la destrucción del paisaje, y los trabajos seleccionados devienen ora obras, ora documentos, para atraer la mirada y, al ser mirados, evidenciar el daño humano sobre el paisaje. (shrink)

El presente artículo pretende mostrar: 1) que la praxis filosófica epicúrea, con sus postulados conceptuales, és en gran medida aceptada por Nietzsche y afines a él; 2) que ese reconocimiento hacia Epicuro tiene que ver con su modelo de vida eudemonista, presentista y menos intelectualizante que el socrático-platónico; 3) que, aun desde la concepción nietzscheana de una cierta filosofía griega en cuanto vía de decadencia antiartística, el quehacer epicúreo se considera un programa de afirmación vital, capaz de soslayar en parte (...) el carácter opresivo de la racionalidad y de conciliar al ser humano con la felicidad y la plenitud corporales. Para ello, se esboza el tratamiento nietzscheano de Sócrates con su doble perspectiva; se estudia la propuesta de cuidado anímico que hizo el maestro de Platón, inspiradora de la filosofía helenística, cuando el griego se convierte en individuo y súbdito y se recluye en sí mismo; se investiga luego la presencia y la doble consideración de Epicuro en las obras de Nietzsche, y se analizan, por último, los rasgos notables del cuidado anímico epicúreo y su recepción valorativa por parte del filósofo alemán, tomando en consideración la filiación socrática y los puntos de convergencia o divergencia que muestran los programas filosóficos del tábano y del samio. (shrink)

This paper inquires the systematical consequences in the Nietzschean critics of the biological determination of life. We proposed an analysis about central topics of this determination: the finalism, the life and chaos. This approach allows us to relieve a systematical conception of what Nietzsche understands by “necessity”. This conception of necessity is not metaphysic in the traditional sense, but implies a subversion of all special metaphysic. Beyond this, it entails a critical to the transcendental and normative version, own of Kantian (...) thought, about the question of life. These confrontations seek to clarify the gnoseological and ontological areas put in check, on the status of the concept of life. (shrink)

Western scholars have written on the theory of Buddhist argumentation. They have also analyzed examples of arguments found in philosophical and polemical writing. However, little has been written to date about what might have transpired when Buddhists and their opponents met in face-to-face debates in classical India. Drawing on Chinese and Tibetan historical and biographical writings about famous Indian debates, this essay analyzes the structure and conventions of these accounts as a literary form. While it is difficult to assess the (...) historicity of particular narratives, an analysis of this literature as a whole gives us clues about what might have occured when Indian scholars faced their adversaries in live debates. These sources provide us with a picture of the etiquette, rules of engagement, and strategies that may have been used in such encounters. They also suggest what constituted defeat in ancient Indian verbal contests, and they point to some of the real-political and material benefits of victory. The essay ends by reflecting on the function of these narratives vis-à-vis Tibetan Buddhist scholastic identity. (shrink)

As is the case with many of the more classically theistic religions, Mahāyāna Buddhism has attempted to elaborate doctrines of incarnation. This paper will first examine the philosophical / doctrinal context in which such doctrines are elaborated by offering a brief overview of Buddhism’s repudiation of theism. It then discusses both denaturalized / philosophical and naturalized / narrative versions of the doctrine of incarnation as it is found in both the exoteric and the tantric (esoteric) traditions of the Mahāyāna texts. (...) It concludes with a defense of the coherence of the docetism found in such texts. (shrink)