Written on February 21, 2008
I’m (still) reading ‘The Concealed Art of the Soul: Theories of the Self and Practices of Truth in Indian Ethics and Epistemology‘ by Jonardon Ganeri; here is an excerpt from the conclusion of a chapter on Buddhism:
The definitive truth, as extracted from the Buddha’s own words by a Madhyamika
hermeneutical procedure, is that concepts purport to represent (but fail actually to do so), that the conventional is the domain in which concepts are treated as if they do represent (although in fact they do not), and that although it is impossible to eliminate the purport unless one ceases altogether to be, it is possible to recognize it for what it is and thereby achieve an attitude of circumspection and cognitive distance. This is neither transcendence nor acquiescence, but an internal exile of the mind. (p. 123)
