Seth Auster-Rosen: Doth He Refute Well or ‘Protest Too Much’?: Mikyö Dorje’s Critique of Dolpopa’s Zhentong-Madhyamaka Philosophy

[PR WS] NEXT TUESDAY: Seth Auster-Rosen at the Philosophy of Religions Workshop
Seth Auster-Rosen
 
PhD Candidate, University of Chicago Divinity School
Doth He Refute Well or ‘Protest Too Much’?: Mikyö Dorje’s Critique of Dolpopa’s Zhentong-Madhyamaka Philosophy
TUESDAY, November 12, 5:00 PM, Swift 207
 
The workshop will consist of a short presentation, followed by discussion and Q&A. We will focus on a pre-circulated paper,  which will be circulated this Friday, November 8.
In his Praise to Dependent Arising, Karmapa Mikyö Dorje (1507-1544), eighth reincarnate hierarch of the powerful Karma Kagyü order of Tibetan Buddhism, critiques the philosophy of Künkhyen Dolpopa (1292-1361), luminary of the rival Jonang order. Dolpopa’s Madhyamaka philosophical view (often referred to as Zhentong-Madhyamaka) is that the ‘kingdom’ of ultimate reality is totally separate from and opposite to the world of conventional appearances. Duckworth (2015), noting the resonance between Dolpopa’s position and the metaphysical dualism of thinkers like Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and Leibniz, refers to it as a “Buddhist theo-logic.” But is that really right, or are critics like Mikyö Dorje–and Duckworth along with them–missing something fundamental to Dolpopa’s position? In my paper, an article-length distillation of the first part of my dissertation, I first sketch out the key points of Dolpopa’s view and then delve into Mikyö Dorje’s arguments against it in the Praise. Finally, I return to Dolpopa’s writing to highlight a crucial omission in Mikyö Dorje’s critique, and draw conclusions as to why so many critics like Mikyö Dorje mishandle Dolpopa’s philosophy in the way they do.

Hosted by the Philosophy of Religions Workshop at the University of Chicago.

_____________

The Workshop on the Philosophy of Religions is committed to being a fully accessible and inclusive workshop. Please contact Workshop Coordinators Taryn Sue (tarynsue@uchicago.edu) or Yeti Kang (hkang01@uchicago.edu) in order to make any arrangements necessary to facilitate your participation in workshop events.

Sylwia Wilczewska, Between the Worlds: Suspending Judgement on Religion

Sylwia Wilczewska

Researcher, Polish Academy of Sciences

Between the Worlds: Suspending Judgement on Religion

TUESDAY, October 29, 5:00 PM, Swift 207
 
The workshop will consist of a short talk, followed by discussion and Q&A. 
 
Abstract
Within religious epistemology, agnosticism has usually been discussed with reference to the existence of God of classical theism; it is only recently that J. S. Schellenberg’s so-called hiddenness argument for the non-existence of such God in the context of Schellenberg’s ultimist stance (cf. Schellenberg 2015) has contributed to opening a debate on agnosticism in a broader sense, taking into consideration many possible concepts of God or the Absolute. The aim of my paper is to discuss the possibility of agnosticism in an even broader sense of suspending judgement on what religion to embrace – in short, “agnosticism about religions” – with the focus on its spiritual consequences. With this goal in mind, I will ask: (1) Is agnosticism about what religion to embrace the same thing as agnosticism about what religion is true? If not, what does the difference lay in? (2) Is agnosticism about what religion to embrace the same thing as agnosticism about which existing religion to embrace? If not, how does it differ from it? (3) How does agnosticism about religions relate to different forms of agnosticism about God or the Absolute as broadly understood – e.g. Schellenberg’s ultimism (cf. Schellenberg 2016) or John Hick’s belief in the Real (cf. Hick 1989)? (4) Does agnosticism about what religion to embrace entail agnosticism about whether to embrace a religion? If yes, how does it differ from universal philosophical agnosticism – agnosticism about any philosophical claim? (5) What are the practical (existential, moral, spiritual) consequences of agnosticism about religions? How do they differ in different cases and what factors underlie the differences? Does the concept of practical agnosticism as spiritual inquiry (cf. Draper 2002) or apophatic spiritual mindset (cf. Kenny 2004) apply to agnosticism about religions? In order to provide a (tentative) answer to these questions, rather than employing any notion of the essence of religion as such, I will make use of (a.) Ronald W. Hepburn’s idea of “agnostic imaginative slant” (Hepburn 1958), broadened so as to be applicable to religions other than Christianity, (b.) the concept of existential perspective as developed by religious epistemologists inspired by late Wittgenstein, like D. Z. Phillips (1981) or, more recently, Blake McAllister (2018) and Chris Tweedt (2022).
Works cited: P. Draper, “Seeking But Not Believing: Confessions of a Practicing Agnostic”, in: D. Howard-Snyder, P. K. Moser (eds.), Divine Hiddenness: New Essays, OUP 2002, pp. 197-2014; R. W. Hepburn, Christianity and Paradox: Critical Studies in Twentieth-Century Theology, Pegasus 1958; B. McAllister, “The Perspective of Faith: Its Nature and Epistemic Implications”, American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 92, Iss. 4, 2018, pp. 515-533; Ch. Tweedt, “The Perspectival Account of Faith”, Religious Studies, Vol. 59, Iss. 4, 2022, pp. 635-650; D. Z. Phillips, The Concept of Prayer, The Seabury Press 1981; J. Hick, An Interpretation of Religion: Human Responses to the Transcendent, Macmillan Press 1989; J. L. Schellenberg, The Hiddenness Argument: Philosophy’s New Challenge to Belief in God, OUP 2015; J. L. Schellenberg, “God for All Time: From Theism to Ultimism”, in: A. A. Buckareff, Y. Nagasawa (eds.), Alternative Concepts of God: Essays on the Metaphysics of the Divine, OUP 2016, pp. 164-177; A. Kenny, The Unknown God: Agnostic Essays, Continuum 2004.

Hosted by the Philosophy of Religions Workshop at the University of Chicago.

_____________

The Workshop on the Philosophy of Religions is committed to being a fully accessible and inclusive workshop. Please contact Workshop Coordinators Taryn Sue (tarynsue@uchicago.edu) or Yeti Kang (hkang01@uchicago.edu) in order to make any arrangements necessary to facilitate your participation in workshop events.