Projects per year
Abstract
What should the Buddhist attitude be to rebirth if it is believed to be inconsistent with current science? This chapter critically engages forms of Buddhist agnosticism that adopt a position of uncertainty about rebirth but nevertheless recommend ‘behaving as if’it were true. What does it mean to behave as if rebirth were true, and are Buddhist agnostics justified in adopting this position? This chapter engages this question in dialogue with Mark Siderits’ reductionist analysis of the Buddhist doctrine of the two truths, conventional and ultimate. Richard Hayes (1998) characterises talk of rebirth as a useful fiction. Siderits characterises talk of persons as a useful fiction and explains and justifies statements that involve it as conventionally true despite persons not featuring in our final or ultimate ontology. Does rebirth satisfy the same criteria to count as conventionally true, and does thinking of it in these terms help explain and justify what it might mean to behave as if rebirth were true? This chapter will defend a conditional yes to these questions. In the process, it will clarify what is distinctive about the traditional Buddhist approach to rebirth, provide an analysis of how the concept of rebirth might relate to practical outcomes, and address some limitations of this approach.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Title of host publication | Global Dialogues in the Philosophy of Religion |
Subtitle of host publication | From Religious Experience to the Afterlife |
Editors | Yujin Nagasawa, Mohammad Saleh Zarapour |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Chapter | 13 |
Pages | 283-306 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9780191955969 |
ISBN (Print) | 9780192865496 |
Publication status | Published - Apr 2024 |
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'Conventionalising Rebirth: Buddhist agnosticism and the doctrine of two truths'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 1 Active
Research output
- 2 Chapter
-
A Buddhist response to Ankur Barua ''Liberation in Life: Advaita Allegories for Defeating Death'
Finnigan, B., 2024, Global Dialogues in the Philosophy of Religion: From Religious Experience to the Afterlife. Nagasawa, Y. & Zarapour, M. S. (eds.). Oxford University Press , p. 322-325 4 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
-
A Buddhist Response to Olla Solomyak 'The World to Come: A Perspective'
Finnigan, B., 2024, Global Dialogues in the Philosophy of Religion: From Religious Experience to the Afterlife. Nagasawa, Y. & Zarapour, M. S. (eds.). Oxford University Press , p. 347-350 4 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review