Das antiatomistische Argument in den zwanzig Versen des Vasubandhu
Abstract
THIS PAPER WILL conduct a critical investigation of the famous argument against atomism first made by the 4th century CE Indian Buddhist philosopher Vasubandhu in his idealist treatise Vim. ´satik¯a Vij naptim¯atrat ¯asiddhi (The Twenty Verses of Mind-Only). Although the present exposition will be more conceptual than historical in focus, it will first unfold the Abhidharmic Buddhist precursors of the MindOnly epistemology. With the necessary background in place, I shall then attempt a rational reconstruction of the substance of Vasubandhus argument against atomism, rendering it intelligible to the modern reader by transposing it into contemporary philosophical idiom. Finally, I will employ the analysis of atomism and the external world in the MindOnly school as a point of departure from which to further probe closely related concerns of Buddhist transcendental philosophy having to do with the nature of empirical knowledge, the power of skeptical argument, and the status of apperception. ..