Mahayana Buddhism and Deweyan Philosophy

Abstract

My paper examines some of the many similarities between Mahayana Buddhism and Deweyan philosophy. It builds upon two previously published works. The first is my dialogue with Daisaku Ikeda President of Soka Gakkai International, a UN registered ngo currently active in one hundred ninety-two countries and territories, and the Di- rector Emeritus of the Center for Dewey Studies, Larry Hickman (see Garrison, Hick- man, and Ikdea, 2014). My paper will first briefly review some of the many similarities between Buddhism and Deweyan pragmatism. Second, I will also briefly review addi- tional similarities in the published version of my Kneller Lecture to the American Edu- cational Studies Association (see Garrison, 2019). In the present paper, I will introduce some new similarities of interest to educators. Among these are Dewey's surprisingly Buddhist notions of language and logic as merely useful conventions. Secondly, I ex- amine Dewey's argument that “causation as ordered sequence is a logical category,” not an ontological category (LW 12: 454). The similarity to the opening chapter of Nagar- juna's Madhyamaka, or Middle Way, is striking. I will suggest a logical reading has some interesting implications for student-teacher relations.

Keywords

Buddhism causation Dewey Ikeda Nagarjuna metaphysics

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