The present introduction summarises the debate on the epistemological value of testimony, with a special focus on the reductionism vs. antireductionism polemics, and situates Indian philosophers within it. One thus sees that some Indian philosophical schools (especially Vaiśeṣika and Buddhist epistemology) attempted to reduce testimony to another, more fundamental, instrument of knowledge, typically to inference, whereas others (especially Mīmāṃṣā and Nyāya) emphasised the independent nature of testimony. The study then moves to the problem of the criteria for a reliable speaker and discusses border-line cases, such as that of speaking instruments (computers, clocks and the like). Finally, it looks at some promising and open-ended topics evoked by the Indian-European dialogue on testimony.
{"title":"There is only “Philosophy”: The case of testimony","authors":"E. Freschi","doi":"10.13135/1825-263X/2241","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13135/1825-263X/2241","url":null,"abstract":"The present introduction summarises the debate on the epistemological value of testimony, with a special focus on the reductionism vs. antireductionism polemics, and situates Indian philosophers within it. One thus sees that some Indian philosophical schools (especially Vaiśeṣika and Buddhist epistemology) attempted to reduce testimony to another, more fundamental, instrument of knowledge, typically to inference, whereas others (especially Mīmāṃṣā and Nyāya) emphasised the independent nature of testimony. The study then moves to the problem of the criteria for a reliable speaker and discusses border-line cases, such as that of speaking instruments (computers, clocks and the like). Finally, it looks at some promising and open-ended topics evoked by the Indian-European dialogue on testimony.","PeriodicalId":37635,"journal":{"name":"Kervan","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42508660","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Beginning with a general reflection on the meaning of “printing revolution”, this paper offers a series of meditations about the role of printing culture in Buddhist Burma. In China and in Tibet, an indigenous printing tradition based on woodblock printing developed over the centuries, much earlier than in Europe. A similar technology, however, was also used in pre-Gutenberg Europe for printing the so-called “Bibles for the poor” ( Biblia pauperum ). I argue that we should differentiate the Gutenberg printing press from other reprographic means, even movable types. Burma has an almost uninterrupted history of relationships with China. Notwithstanding this vicinity, Burma has not developed any kind of reprographic technology. Manuscript culture, on the contrary, has been intensively cultivated at least since the Pagan period, 11th-13th centuries C.E. To judge from epigraphic records, the production of written texts in medieval Burma was extremely costly, for it demanded a great quantity of human labor. The profession of scribe was well known and well appreciated. Monasteries were usually endowed with scribes who would care for the replenishment of the library. The writing tradition was not static. It gained in strength over the centuries. And at the time of British annexation, literacy rates in Burma were higher than in England –without any intervention of the printing press. Even in modern times, two hundred years after the introduction of printing technology in Burma, the name for “literature” in Burmese continues to be “palm-leaf text” ( sa-pe ) and the manuscript imaginaire is still deeply related to Buddhism. The aim of this paper is to problematize printing culture from a particular, local perspective, and link it to the nature of its preceding manuscript tradition.
{"title":"Notes on Printing Press and Pali Literature in Burma","authors":"A. Ruiz-Falqués","doi":"10.13135/1825-263X/2267","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13135/1825-263X/2267","url":null,"abstract":"Beginning with a general reflection on the meaning of “printing revolution”, this paper offers a series of meditations about the role of printing culture in Buddhist Burma. In China and in Tibet, an indigenous printing tradition based on woodblock printing developed over the centuries, much earlier than in Europe. A similar technology, however, was also used in pre-Gutenberg Europe for printing the so-called “Bibles for the poor” ( Biblia pauperum ). I argue that we should differentiate the Gutenberg printing press from other reprographic means, even movable types. Burma has an almost uninterrupted history of relationships with China. Notwithstanding this vicinity, Burma has not developed any kind of reprographic technology. Manuscript culture, on the contrary, has been intensively cultivated at least since the Pagan period, 11th-13th centuries C.E. To judge from epigraphic records, the production of written texts in medieval Burma was extremely costly, for it demanded a great quantity of human labor. The profession of scribe was well known and well appreciated. Monasteries were usually endowed with scribes who would care for the replenishment of the library. The writing tradition was not static. It gained in strength over the centuries. And at the time of British annexation, literacy rates in Burma were higher than in England –without any intervention of the printing press. Even in modern times, two hundred years after the introduction of printing technology in Burma, the name for “literature” in Burmese continues to be “palm-leaf text” ( sa-pe ) and the manuscript imaginaire is still deeply related to Buddhism. The aim of this paper is to problematize printing culture from a particular, local perspective, and link it to the nature of its preceding manuscript tradition.","PeriodicalId":37635,"journal":{"name":"Kervan","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44867609","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This short introduction focuses on the historical and constructed nature of sexuality, on the normative aspects of the discourses that develop around it, as well as on its inevitable entanglements with issues of societal control, power relations, and violence. It aims to show how the papers in the present panel converge in highlighting the multifaceted and polymorphic role of various South Asian discourses on sexuality in their attempted ‘construction’ of a normed individual as the basic building block of the society envisioned by the authors of those very discourses.
{"title":"Sociocultural Constructions of Sexuality in South Asia","authors":"D. Cuneo","doi":"10.13135/1825-263X/2253","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13135/1825-263X/2253","url":null,"abstract":"This short introduction focuses on the historical and constructed nature of sexuality, on the normative aspects of the discourses that develop around it, as well as on its inevitable entanglements with issues of societal control, power relations, and violence. It aims to show how the papers in the present panel converge in highlighting the multifaceted and polymorphic role of various South Asian discourses on sexuality in their attempted ‘construction’ of a normed individual as the basic building block of the society envisioned by the authors of those very discourses.","PeriodicalId":37635,"journal":{"name":"Kervan","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43186185","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Very often, literature provides visions of the city that are typical of both common sense and collective imagination. Therefore, investigating literature we can sometimes better understand some unexplored ‘territories’. In the case of Dar es Salaam, novels and short stories show two different interpretation of the city, concerned as they are with different places and aesthetics, and suggesting an interesting analogy between the city structure and the narrative text. Reading Swahili fiction published at the end of the 20 th century, we get a survey of both urban texture and a picture of the urban space: poverty, migration and illegal activities drive the reader to a fictionalised, yet very real, Dar es Salaam.
{"title":"Spazi e luoghi urbani nella narrativa swahili: il caso di Dar es Salaam","authors":"Graziella Acquaviva","doi":"10.13135/1825-263X/2250","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13135/1825-263X/2250","url":null,"abstract":"Very often, literature provides visions of the city that are typical of both common sense and collective imagination. Therefore, investigating literature we can sometimes better understand some unexplored ‘territories’. In the case of Dar es Salaam, novels and short stories show two different interpretation of the city, concerned as they are with different places and aesthetics, and suggesting an interesting analogy between the city structure and the narrative text. Reading Swahili fiction published at the end of the 20 th century, we get a survey of both urban texture and a picture of the urban space: poverty, migration and illegal activities drive the reader to a fictionalised, yet very real, Dar es Salaam.","PeriodicalId":37635,"journal":{"name":"Kervan","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42675736","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The songs performed by the Bāuls of Bengal are characterized by a charmingly enigmatic language by which terms and practices related to the dimension of sexuality and ontogenesis are concealed under the veil of intriguing metaphors. While the orature of the Bāuls has been widely explored from the literary as well as the religious point of view, the question of the semantic reception of the songs has rarely been considered. The semantics of these songs concerns the fundamental opposition between man and woman, as the only unborn difference Bāuls acknowledge in human beings. The foundation of such a difference lies in the sexually active body. Although, for a meaningful practice of ritualized sexual encounter ( yugala-sādhanā ), male-female identities ( svabhāb ) have to be transcended, and male practitioners are recommended to adopt a feminine nature ( nārī bhāb ). This article will focus on the problem of the interpretation and understanding of Bāul songs revealing how a diverse typology of listeners or performers can differently explain the meaning of a song and its allegorical images related to the microcosmic body of the practitioner. The analysis of the interpretations of a selected sample of ‘songs of practice’ ( sādhanā saṅgīt ) composed by the saint-songwriter Bhaba Pagla (1902 – 1984) will show how the lyrics are understood and explained on different levels according to the social and religious background of the informant: a superficial, literal layer; a bhakti -oriented metaphysical layer; and an esoteric-Tantric layer, decoded and orally transmitted by living gurus. Combining the approach of the contextual theory of the study of folklore and verbal arts with the theories on the interpretation of metaphors and the semiotics of reception, I will try to show how different exegeses of the same songs – collected during an ethnographic investigation in the field – can at times encourage the institutionalization of a cult purified from its embarrassing ‘Tantric’ aspect or, in other cases, reinforce the system of beliefs about bodily fluids and sexuality of an esoteric community. The problem of the heterogeneity of oral interpretations and the polysemy of songs’ meanings will lead to a discussion on the politics of power that entangle emerging Bengali cults and their negotiation between universalism and esoteric secrecy.
{"title":"“How many know how to (make) love?” Semantic understanding of Bengali Bāul songs and politics of power in the lineage of Bhaba Pagla","authors":"C. Lorea","doi":"10.13135/1825-263X/2262","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13135/1825-263X/2262","url":null,"abstract":"The songs performed by the Bāuls of Bengal are characterized by a charmingly enigmatic language by which terms and practices related to the dimension of sexuality and ontogenesis are concealed under the veil of intriguing metaphors. While the orature of the Bāuls has been widely explored from the literary as well as the religious point of view, the question of the semantic reception of the songs has rarely been considered. The semantics of these songs concerns the fundamental opposition between man and woman, as the only unborn difference Bāuls acknowledge in human beings. The foundation of such a difference lies in the sexually active body. Although, for a meaningful practice of ritualized sexual encounter ( yugala-sādhanā ), male-female identities ( svabhāb ) have to be transcended, and male practitioners are recommended to adopt a feminine nature ( nārī bhāb ). This article will focus on the problem of the interpretation and understanding of Bāul songs revealing how a diverse typology of listeners or performers can differently explain the meaning of a song and its allegorical images related to the microcosmic body of the practitioner. The analysis of the interpretations of a selected sample of ‘songs of practice’ ( sādhanā saṅgīt ) composed by the saint-songwriter Bhaba Pagla (1902 – 1984) will show how the lyrics are understood and explained on different levels according to the social and religious background of the informant: a superficial, literal layer; a bhakti -oriented metaphysical layer; and an esoteric-Tantric layer, decoded and orally transmitted by living gurus. Combining the approach of the contextual theory of the study of folklore and verbal arts with the theories on the interpretation of metaphors and the semiotics of reception, I will try to show how different exegeses of the same songs – collected during an ethnographic investigation in the field – can at times encourage the institutionalization of a cult purified from its embarrassing ‘Tantric’ aspect or, in other cases, reinforce the system of beliefs about bodily fluids and sexuality of an esoteric community. The problem of the heterogeneity of oral interpretations and the polysemy of songs’ meanings will lead to a discussion on the politics of power that entangle emerging Bengali cults and their negotiation between universalism and esoteric secrecy.","PeriodicalId":37635,"journal":{"name":"Kervan","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46728922","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This essay briefly discusses the early history of Tibetan printing by comparing some facets of this subject with the European phenomenon. Printing started to be a means of dissemination of texts in Tibet and Europe at roughly the same time. Recent research indicates that although printing in Tibet does not seem to have had the kind of socially transformative effects highlighted in Elisabeth Eisenstein’s study, it did have some important consequences and also similarities with the European printing history. This article also presents a Marie Sklodowska Curie project on Tibetan xylographs entitled Tibetan Book Evolution and Technology (TiBET), which was carried out at the University of Cambridge (Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit) from 2013 to 2015. This paper focuses in particular on one of the aspects of the above-mentioned project, that is to say, the craftsmen who worked on sixteenth century xylographs and their importance for the identification of Tibetan prints. These artists were allowed to sign their work, a peculiarity that was typical of the earliest stage of printing and is extremely relevant for locating the printing house where a certain xylograph was produced. By comparing the different signatures and patterns of carving, writing or drawing, we might learn to distinguish the diverse style of each artist. This would help us in identifying those who worked on xylographs that lack signatures and do not mention them in colophons. From these prints we can also extract information about the craftsmen and the printing projects with which they were associated.
{"title":"On a Particular Aspect of the Identification of Tibetan Xylographs: Preliminary Remarks on the Importance of Craftsmen","authors":"M. Clemente","doi":"10.13135/1825-263X/2272","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13135/1825-263X/2272","url":null,"abstract":"This essay briefly discusses the early history of Tibetan printing by comparing some facets of this subject with the European phenomenon. Printing started to be a means of dissemination of texts in Tibet and Europe at roughly the same time. Recent research indicates that although printing in Tibet does not seem to have had the kind of socially transformative effects highlighted in Elisabeth Eisenstein’s study, it did have some important consequences and also similarities with the European printing history. This article also presents a Marie Sklodowska Curie project on Tibetan xylographs entitled Tibetan Book Evolution and Technology (TiBET), which was carried out at the University of Cambridge (Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit) from 2013 to 2015. This paper focuses in particular on one of the aspects of the above-mentioned project, that is to say, the craftsmen who worked on sixteenth century xylographs and their importance for the identification of Tibetan prints. These artists were allowed to sign their work, a peculiarity that was typical of the earliest stage of printing and is extremely relevant for locating the printing house where a certain xylograph was produced. By comparing the different signatures and patterns of carving, writing or drawing, we might learn to distinguish the diverse style of each artist. This would help us in identifying those who worked on xylographs that lack signatures and do not mention them in colophons. From these prints we can also extract information about the craftsmen and the printing projects with which they were associated.","PeriodicalId":37635,"journal":{"name":"Kervan","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42402813","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Buddhist approach to testimony ( āptavāda , āptāgama ) as a valid means of cognition ( pramā ṇa ) is far from univocal and involves an intricate and often also ambivalent attitude toward scriptural authority. The paper focuses on several early Yogācāra Buddhist thinkers who accepted testimony as a reliable epistemic warrant, and offers an account of the sophisticated and highly reflective manner in which they approached the issue of scriptural meaning and authority. For this purpose, the paper first outlines the theoretical framework for considering scripture presented by the early Yogācāra philosopher Vasubandhu’s Vyākhyāyukti , focusing especially on his discussion of the criteria for canonicity and its implications for a system of hermeneutics based on the uncovering of authorial intent. The paper then examines in turn the way in which this framework and its internal tensions were worked out in the writings of Sthiramati (circa 6 th century CE) and especially in his Madhyāntavibhāga-bhā ṣya-ṭīkā , focusing on his definition of “treatise” ( śāstra ) and his implied understanding of textual authority.
{"title":"Thoughts on the Early Indian Yogācāra Understanding of Āgama- Pramāṇa","authors":"Roy Tzohar","doi":"10.13135/1825-263X/2255","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13135/1825-263X/2255","url":null,"abstract":"The Buddhist approach to testimony ( āptavāda , āptāgama ) as a valid means of cognition ( pramā ṇa ) is far from univocal and involves an intricate and often also ambivalent attitude toward scriptural authority. The paper focuses on several early Yogācāra Buddhist thinkers who accepted testimony as a reliable epistemic warrant, and offers an account of the sophisticated and highly reflective manner in which they approached the issue of scriptural meaning and authority. For this purpose, the paper first outlines the theoretical framework for considering scripture presented by the early Yogācāra philosopher Vasubandhu’s Vyākhyāyukti , focusing especially on his discussion of the criteria for canonicity and its implications for a system of hermeneutics based on the uncovering of authorial intent. The paper then examines in turn the way in which this framework and its internal tensions were worked out in the writings of Sthiramati (circa 6 th century CE) and especially in his Madhyāntavibhāga-bhā ṣya-ṭīkā , focusing on his definition of “treatise” ( śāstra ) and his implied understanding of textual authority.","PeriodicalId":37635,"journal":{"name":"Kervan","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47910353","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This introduction summarizes the articles included in this section, at the same time presenting some fundamental aspects of the scholarly debate about the so-called ‘print revolution.’ The attempt is made to draw preliminary conclusions about the impact of printing technology in a wider context, taking into consideration the peculiarities of different Asian book cultures as compared to European book culture. The aim of this short contribution is to elicit a discussion between scholars rather than provide definitive answers.
{"title":"Change of Paradigms and Mechanical (Re)discoveries. Manuscript Cultures and Print Cultures Across Asia","authors":"C. A. Formigatti","doi":"10.13135/1825-263X/2260","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13135/1825-263X/2260","url":null,"abstract":"This introduction summarizes the articles included in this section, at the same time presenting some fundamental aspects of the scholarly debate about the so-called ‘print revolution.’ The attempt is made to draw preliminary conclusions about the impact of printing technology in a wider context, taking into consideration the peculiarities of different Asian book cultures as compared to European book culture. The aim of this short contribution is to elicit a discussion between scholars rather than provide definitive answers.","PeriodicalId":37635,"journal":{"name":"Kervan","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44653796","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper aims at discussing the critique of the classical ( prācīna ) Nyāya theory of trustworthiness ( āptatva ) as found in the Śabdalak ṣaṇakhaṇḍana section of the first chapter from the Kha ṇḍanakhaṇḍakhādya of the great 12 th century Advaita Vedāntin, Śrīharṣa Miśra. Śrīharṣa submitted the Nyāya definition to a full-fledged critique ranging from smaller details to main issues, thus showing that 1. āptatva cannot be a reliable criterion for deciding the validity of a cognition, 2. even if it were so, no such speaker could ever be found. The author further extends Śrīharṣa’s criticism by noting also that 3. even if such a speaker could be found, the information she delivered could consciously or inadvertently be distorted by the listener. He then concludes by noting further possible applications of Śrīharṣa’s skeptical attacks to testimony as an instrument of knowledge.
{"title":"Śrīharṣa Miśra’s Critique of Trustworthiness","authors":"Sudipta Munsi","doi":"10.13135/1825-263X/2251","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13135/1825-263X/2251","url":null,"abstract":"This paper aims at discussing the critique of the classical ( prācīna ) Nyāya theory of trustworthiness ( āptatva ) as found in the Śabdalak ṣaṇakhaṇḍana section of the first chapter from the Kha ṇḍanakhaṇḍakhādya of the great 12 th century Advaita Vedāntin, Śrīharṣa Miśra. Śrīharṣa submitted the Nyāya definition to a full-fledged critique ranging from smaller details to main issues, thus showing that 1. āptatva cannot be a reliable criterion for deciding the validity of a cognition, 2. even if it were so, no such speaker could ever be found. The author further extends Śrīharṣa’s criticism by noting also that 3. even if such a speaker could be found, the information she delivered could consciously or inadvertently be distorted by the listener. He then concludes by noting further possible applications of Śrīharṣa’s skeptical attacks to testimony as an instrument of knowledge.","PeriodicalId":37635,"journal":{"name":"Kervan","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47007001","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The issue of dialectics has been very important in Modern Japan. In the later philosophy of Nishida Kitarō, dialectics is crucial for both the structure of his philosophy and its relationship with Buddhism, since according to him it would help define important and desirable features of Buddhist thought. Therefore, a discussion on this aspect may prove to be decisive in order to understand the overall meaning of Nishida’s thought. This essay aims at discussing the meaning and the implications of dialectics in Nishida Kitarō from the perspective of the philosophical theme of the world’s fundamental ambiguity and its linguistic consequences. Contrary to the political nature of Aristotle’s idea of the principle of non-contradiction, Nishida Kitarō aims at a contemplative approach to the ambiguous world, but falls short of facing the problem of modernity, and is therefore unable to connect the world’s ambiguity with its destructive sides. From such a perspective, his philosophy appears to be inclined to metaphysics rather than to a practical and transformative attitude.
{"title":"L'ambiguità del mondo. La dialettica dell'interazione di Nishida Kitaro","authors":"M. Cestari","doi":"10.13135/1825-263X/3115","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13135/1825-263X/3115","url":null,"abstract":"The issue of dialectics has been very important in Modern Japan. In the later philosophy of Nishida Kitarō, dialectics is crucial for both the structure of his philosophy and its relationship with Buddhism, since according to him it would help define important and desirable features of Buddhist thought. Therefore, a discussion on this aspect may prove to be decisive in order to understand the overall meaning of Nishida’s thought. This essay aims at discussing the meaning and the implications of dialectics in Nishida Kitarō from the perspective of the philosophical theme of the world’s fundamental ambiguity and its linguistic consequences. Contrary to the political nature of Aristotle’s idea of the principle of non-contradiction, Nishida Kitarō aims at a contemplative approach to the ambiguous world, but falls short of facing the problem of modernity, and is therefore unable to connect the world’s ambiguity with its destructive sides. From such a perspective, his philosophy appears to be inclined to metaphysics rather than to a practical and transformative attitude.","PeriodicalId":37635,"journal":{"name":"Kervan","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"66233701","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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