38 research outputs found
âSnakes and Laddersâ â âTherapyâ as Liberation in Nagarjuna and Wittgensteinâs Tractatus
This paper reconsiders the notion that Nagarjuna and Wittgensteinâs Tractatus may only be seen as comparable under a shared ineffability thesis, that is, the idea that reality is impossible to describe in sensible discourse. Historically, Nagarjuna and the early Wittgenstein have both been widely construed as offering either metaphysical theories or attempts to refute all such theories. Instead, by employing an interpretive framework based on a âresoluteâ reading of the Tractatus, I suggest we see their philosophical affinity in terms of a shared conception of philosophical method without proposing theses. In doing so, this offers us a new way to understand Nagarjunaâs characteristic claims both to have âno viewsâ (MĆ«lamadhyamakakÄrikÄ 13.8 and 27.30) and refusal to accept that things exist âinherentlyâ or with âessenceâ (svabhÄva). Therefore, instead of either a view about the nature of a mind-independent âultimate realityâ or a thesis concerning the rejection of such a domain, I propose that we understand Nagarjunaâs primary aim as âtherapeuticâ, that is, concerned with the dissolution of philosophical problems. However, this âtherapyâ should neither be confined to the psychotherapeutic metaphor nor should it be taken to imply a private enlightenment only available to philosophers. Instead, for Nagarjuna and Wittgenstein, philosophical problems are cast as a source of disquiet for all of us; what their work offers is a soteriology, a means towards our salvation
Nothing Lasts Forever: Environmental Discourses on the Collapse of Past Societies
The study of the collapse of past societies raises many questions for the theory and practice of archaeology. Interest in collapse extends as well into the natural sciences and environmental and sustainability policy. Despite a range of approaches to collapse, the predominant paradigm is environmental collapse, which I argue obscures recognition of the dynamic role of social processes that lie at the heart of human communities. These environmental discourses, together with confusion over terminology and the concepts of collapse, have created widespread aporia about collapse and resulted in the creation of mixed messages about complex historical and social processes