خلاصة:
This article discusses the function of dialectic in religious history, focusing on the works of two major sixth century Indian intellectuals and doxographers Bhāviveka and Haribhadra Sūri, who belonged to the competing Madhyamaka Buddhist and Jaina traditions respectively. The article studies how these two figures used medical metaphors for their dialectic purposes.
ملخص الجهاز:
Religious Inquiries Volume 4, No. 7, Winter and Spring 2015, 51-64 Taking the Enemy as Medicine: Dialectic and Therapy in the Work of Two Early Indian Doxographers Karl-Stéphan Bouthillette 1 Received: 2014-10-13; Accepted: 2014-12-15 This article discusses the function of dialectic in religious history, focusing on the works of two major sixth century Indian intellectuals and doxographers Bhāviveka and Haribhadra Sūri, who belonged to the competing Madhyamaka Buddhist and Jaina traditions respectively.
Keywords: doxography, dialectic, Bhāviveka, Haribhadra Sūri Introduction It is common knowledge that, throughout history, most religious traditions and philosophical schools have encouraged the study of their own canon of literature, oral or written, at least for a certain elite amongst their fold, if not for everyone.
ca scope, aims at examining a single aspect of that theme, based on the work of two major sixth century Indian intellectual figures belonging to competing traditions: Bhāviveka, a proponent of Madhyamaka Buddhism, and Haribhadra Sūri, a Jaina scholar.
Indologists interested in dialectic tend to inquire either about its forms and structure or about its application in debate, as witnessed for example within the rigorous argumentative structure of the philosophical treaties known as śāstra, a literary genre exploited by most Indian philosophical traditions, dedicated to the systematic exposition of particular doctrines, where a refutation of opposing views is a common feature, not unlike Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae.
And, like a good doctor confident in his means, yet ever looking for new cures adapted to different diseases, Bhāviveka puts the "medicine" of others, their various views, to test.