Apoha: Buddhist Nominalism and Human Cognition

by Arindam Chakrabarti and Tom J.F. Tillemans

Book Overview

When we understand that something is a pot, is it because of one property that all pots share? This seems unlikely, but without this common essence, it is difficult to see how we could teach someone to use the word "pot" or to see something as a pot. The Buddhist apoha theory tries to resolve this dilemma, first, by rejecting properties such as "potness" and, then, by claiming that the element uniting all pots is their very difference from...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0231153619
• ISBN13: 9780231153614
• Release Date: September 2011
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 344 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 8.9"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher