Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Vincent Eltschinger -II part

At the end of his first chapter, V.Eltsch. inscribes Dharmakīrti's contribution within the coeval Buddhist philosophy. One understands that 
Dharmakīrti dote ainsi le bouddhisme d'une philosophie complète, mobile et réputée ne faire appel qu'aux lumières ordinaires de la connaissance humaine (p. 64).
I am willing to agree with this analysis if it refers to the Buddhist milieu alone. Dharmakīrti was surely trying to enhance the blind faith of the other Buddhists whilst strengthening it with rational arguments. But I am not absolutely sure that he was also rationally convinced that those rational arguments would have been powerful enough to make everyone a Buddhist convert. In sum, rational arguments were thought by Dharmakīri to be powerful enough to make one's faith resist and to be eventually victorious in debates against Mīmāṃsakas and other opponents. But this does not mean that the same arguments could have effected a change of faith in those very opponents. Does V. Eltsch. agree?

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