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Realistic-Antimetaphysical Reading Vs Any Nihilistic Interpretation of Madhyamaka

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Abstract

This paper supports the thesis that nihilistic interpretations (such as the ‘qualified’ one Westerhoff presents in a recent contribution) of Madhyamaka philosophy derive from generally antirealistic and/or metaphysical approaches to Nāgārjuna’s thought. However, the arguments and many images by way of which the author of the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā (MMK) and his Indian commentators defend themselves from the charge of nihilism show limits in these approaches, and rather confirm that Nāgārjuna’s philosophy should be read as a theoretical proposal that is at once realistic and antimetaphysical. The epistemology inherent to the soteriological dimension of the Buddha’s teaching, of which Nāgārjuna presents himself as a faithful continuer, assesses on the one hand the accomplishment of a ‘cognitive revolution’ consisting in the achievement of a new (and ultimate) vision of reality and on the other the avoidance of any metaphysical description of the same vision. Comprehension of the Madhyamaka philosophical enterprise through a realistic-antimetaphysical lens seems to hinder and prevent the possibility of any nihilistic interpretation of Nāgārjuna.

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Abbreviations

MMK:

Mūlamadhyamakakārikā

PsP:

Prasannapadā

VV:

Vigrahavyāvartanī

VVV:

Vigrahavyāvartanīsvavṛitti

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  1. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

    Giuseppe Ferraro

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Ferraro, G. Realistic-Antimetaphysical Reading Vs Any Nihilistic Interpretation of Madhyamaka. J Indian Philos 45, 73–98 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-016-9299-6

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