The 2nd Century CE Indian philosopher Nagarjuna founded the Madhyamika (Middle Way) school of Mahayana Buddhism, which strongly influenced Chinese (Ch'an), Korean (Son) and Japanese (Zen) Buddhism, as well as Tibetan Buddhism. Nagarjuna is regarded by many Buddhist writers to this day as a very important philosopher, who they claim definitively proved the futility of ordinary human cognitive means.
His writings include a series of arguments purporting to show the illogic of logic, the absurdity of reason. He considers this the way to verbalize and justify the Buddhist doctrine of "emptiness" (Shunyata). These arguments attack some of the basic tenets and techniques of reasoning, such as the laws of thought (identity, non-contradiction and the excluded middle), conceptualization and predication, our common assumptions of self, entities and essences, as well as our beliefs in motion and causation.
The present essay demonstrates the many sophistries involved in Nagarjuna's arguments.
Buddhist Illogic, A Critical Analysis of Nagarjuna's Arguments, Avi Sion, Paperback, 230 pages, $11.95
Avi Sion (Ph.D, Philosophy) is an independent researcher and writer in logic, philosophy, and spirituality. He resides in Geneva, Switzerland.
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