reality
method of inferential reasoning to support the pluralistic reality. In Indian
Buddhism, two philosophical schools – Svātantrika and Prāsangika –
argue about the possibility of establishing the truth of emptiness (śūnyatā)
with the former represented by Dharmakīrti during the seventh century
ce and the latter by Candrakīrti (c. 650). Being convinced that logical
arguments can provide certainty, Dharmakīrti develops notions of cogni-
tion and meaning from the Buddhist philosopher Dignāga (480–540 ce),
whereas Candrakīrti argues that the truth of emptiness can only be estab-
lished by an argument based on a reduction to absurdity and the ability
to witness the inherent contradictions present within any logical and
rational attempt to support the truth.
Among other Eastern religious movements, Zen Buddhism calls ratio-
nality into question because it is associated with a representational mode
of thinking that is captive to a subject/object type of thinking. Zen wants
to retrieve a mode of thinking that is pre-reflective and not captive to
rationality by using, for instance, kōans (enigmatic statements that are
nonsensical and paradoxical) to jolt a person into a non-thinking mode of
consciousness, using the Zen master Dōgen’s terminology, that is the
most fundamental mode of consciousness and devoid of any intentional
attitude.
Along with Zen Buddhists, postmodern thinkers are also dissatisfied
with rationality, and their approaches to it by, for instance, rescuing rea-
son or by embracing the irrational. Jean Lyotard, for instance, makes a
distinction between a rationalist and a post-rationalist path by drawing
out their political consequences. If the rationalist path suggests a desire
to preserve existing rules that conform to the dictates of capitalism, the
post-rationalist path leads to destabilization and the unbalancing of the
structures needed for the performative functioning of knowledge, an
example of power and capitalist rationalization. Lyotard wants to save
reason and to free it and knowledge, which is nothing more than a prod-
uct to be sold, from the bondage of capitalist authorities.
Further reading: Evans-Pritchard (1965); Geertz (1973); Lévi-Strauss (1962);
Lyotard (1985); Olson (2000); Tambiah (1990)
REALITY
What is genuinely real as it is captures the sense of reality. Within many
religious traditions, reality is often identified with the high God, or it is
equated with a more abstract reality such as Brahman in some forms of