Volume 45, 1998
Theory of Knowledge
D. K. Mohanta
Pages 180-189
Cognitive Scepticism Of Nagarjuna
This paper aims at a critical exposition of some arguments by Nagarjuna against the cognitivist claims of the Nyaya philosophers, and a possible cognitivist critique of the skeptical arguments of Nagarjuna. My argument is presented in two broad sections. The first deals mainly with an exposition of Nagarjuna's charges against the concept of pramana, while the second is devoted to critical evaluation of the Nagarjunian charges. I conclude with the impression that there is hardly any common ground on which a Nyaya cognitivist and a Nagarjunian skeptic can meet. For this reason, the Nagarjunian cognitive skepticism seems to be theoretically 'irrefutable' but 'psychologically incorrigible.'