Logical, Buddhological, Buddhist

Abstract

Abstract Chapter 2 focuses on the tetralemma or catuṣkoṭi. This fourfold form of discourse typically negates a given position, its contrary, both, and neither, as when, for example, Nāgārjuna states at the very outset of his masterwork that “Not from itself nor from another / Not from both nor without cause // Does any entity whatsoever / Anywhere arise.” The logicalizing approach predominant in contemporary scholarship on the tetralemma is motivated by a desire to demonstrate that, contrary to appearances, Nāgārjuna cannot possibly be serious in denying all four positions. This chapter articulates and dismantles three major iterations of this approach, which are called the Mereological, Modal, and Qualitative Interpretations. An alternative reading is then proposed that is not only just as methodologically legitimate but also better equipped for the hermeneutical endeavor of describing Nāgārjuna’s religiosophical project taken in its entirety.