John Dewey and the Buddhist Philosophy of the Middle Way1

Author: Chinn, Ewing Y.

Source: Asian Philosophy, Volume 16, Number 2, July 2006 , pp. 87-98(12)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

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Abstract:

This paper argues that the central philosophical movement in the complex history of Buddhism that originated with Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha and carried on by N ā g ā rjuna (among other later Buddhist philosophers) shares some common themes with the pragmatic philosophy of John Dewey. These themes are the rejection of traditional metaphysics as definitive of philosophy, a return to the correct understanding of the nature of experience, and a particular view about the conduct and nature of philosophy. Dewey is used to illuminate such controversial problems in the Buddhist tradition as why the Buddha is silent about metaphysical questions, what it means to say that everything is anitya, and how we are to understand N ā g ā rjuna's key concepts of prat ī tyasamutp ā da and śúnyatá.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1080/09552360600772645

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