An Indirect Unity: Merleau-Ponty and Nāgārjuna on the Human and the Non-human

The nature of the non-human assumes an understanding of the nature of the human, which we may claim, having our experience as from within this latter realm, but this leaves the operant term, nature, at a distance. This essay will investigate this problem through Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s musings on hu...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Berman, Michael (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Simon Fraser University, David See Chai Lam Centre for International Communication 2014
In: Canadian Journal of Buddhist Studies
Year: 2014, Volume: 10, Pages: 51-70
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Summary:The nature of the non-human assumes an understanding of the nature of the human, which we may claim, having our experience as from within this latter realm, but this leaves the operant term, nature, at a distance. This essay will investigate this problem through Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s musings on human being and nature, and will compare these with Nāgārjuna’s Mulamadhyamikakārikā (The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way), particularly drawing upon the experiential notion of pratītya-samutpāda (relational origination). The comparative approach herein will explain aspects of the Merleau-Pontyean ideas about Gestalt, reversibility and wild-being, and Nāgārjuna’s treatment of the Buddhist tetralemma, nirvāṇa and śūnyatā, ranging them against each other, counter-pointing similarities and differences, and then finally demonstrating that through their shared perspectives there exists, what Merleau-Ponty calls, an indirect unity between these philosophers.,
ISSN:1710-825X
Contains:Enthalten in: Canadian Journal of Buddhist Studies