Asking the Buddha for Help: Overcoming the Bifurcation and Coloniality of Philosophy Through an Engagement With the Madhyamaka Tradition

Abstract

This thesis seeks to address two pressing issues. The first is philosophy’s bifurcation. Contemporary philosophy, having been stripped of the spiritual exercises so central to its Ancient traditions, has been reduced to mere discourse. This thesis aims to explore the Buddha’s teachings for potential methodological insights—specifically looking at how the Madhyamaka tradition relates to the teachings of the Buddha—that may establish philosophy as a way of life, along with its spiritual exercises, as an option open to us today, as well as elaborating on what that option looks like for contemporary philosophy. The second issue relates to the centrality of reason in modern Western philosophy, which, while it a consequence of its encounter with Christianity, also played an important role in the consistent dismissing of non-western traditions as non-philosophical on the grounds that they are insufficiently committed to the standards of rational enquiry. By understanding the significant role that reason takes on in the Prasangika Madhyamaka approach, the aim will be to question the ‘divine reason’ construct so central to contemporary Western philosophy’s self-understanding and expose the ways it is particular to the European milieu.