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Substantialism, Essentialism, Emptiness: Buddhist Critiques of Ontology
Dr Rafal Stepien Assistant Professor and Coordinator of MSc (Asian Studies) Programme
Dr Rafal Stepien
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This project seeks to introduce a greater degree of precision into our understanding of Madhyamaka Buddhist ontological non-foundationalism, focussing specifically on the Madhyamaka founder Nāgārjuna (c. 150-250 CE). It distinguishes between four senses of what the “foundation” whose existence Mādhyamikas deny means; that is, i) as “something that stands under or grounds things” (a position known as generic substantialism); ii) as “a particular kind of basic entity” (specific substantialism); iii) as “an individual essence (a haecceity or thisness of that object) by means of which it is identical to that very object, to itself” (modal essentialism); and iv) as “an essence in the absence of which an object could be of a radically different kind or sort of object than it in fact is” (sortal essentialism).
| Theme: | General / Religion in Contemporary Society |
| Region: | South Asia / Global |
| Entity: | SRP |
