Knowledge and Reality: A Comparative Study of Divine and Some Buddhist Logicians

The present work consists of an analytical study and critique of certain

aspects of Buddhist tradition as they bear upon some central problems of

logic and ontology. The author examines the logical, epistemological and

ontological doctrines of Dignaga, Dharmakirti and Ratnakirti on the one

hand and of W.V. Quine on the other. She agrees with Quine that a sharp

line of demarcation between analytic and synthetic statements is untenable

and she argues that a position similar to Quine’s obtains in the writings

of the Buddhist logicians. She provides convincing arguments to the effect

that the Buddhist logicians’ rejection of substance ontology leads to the

rejection of any claim to the ultimacy of the analytical-synthetic

distinction.

Divided into seven chapters and documented with Preface, Bibliography and

General Index, this work is a rare contribution in the field of Comparative

Philosophy.

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