Existence of Objects

[Guest guest]

Hello All,

 

The text referred to (B.S.B. II.ii.29) may be found on

http://homepage.eircom.net/

~ombhurbhuva/vijnanavada1.htm

 

Having pointed out the nonsense of perceiving

perceptions to the Buddhist Idealist Shankara then

turns his attention to the fall back position which is

common to idealists of all hues - when I see something

outside it is only as though or as if it were outside,

it really is just a presentation to my consciousness.

Shankara says that this is an indication of the fact

that their position is parasitic on being able to tell

the difference between internal and external

awareness.

 

This is his short way with it and it is a prevision of

the rebuttal used by contemporary British analytic

philosophers. Let me add this for your consideration.

 

What does this 'as if' mean? It has been held that

Idealism and Realism are not really at odds in that

Idealism is about ontological issues viz. the reality

of the world and Realism is concerned with the

epistemological viz. sense-data, representation and

the like. Essentially then Idealism has accepted

Realism on the epistemological common sense level of

direct intuition. This is the 'as if' factor. ((Is

the room cleared yet?))

 

So then let us look at Ibn Asif the Great Confabulator

and see how he manages everyday complexity. So long

as he is working with the external i.e. perceptions,

sensations then the 'as if' appears to work o.k.

((Actually he doesn't really as Shankara points out

but that must wait for a discussion of the

conceivability issue.))

 

What about the internal awareness of memories, dreams

and reflections? The realist accepts those and can

distinguish them readily from external awareness. The

idealist claims that all awareness is internal really

so how does he distinguish between external that is

really internal and the internal that is really

internal. What tells him this? As an indication of

this difficulty you will find him entertaining the

idea that he may be dreaming when he is awake and v.v.

At the very least you can say that this is non-

adaptive and at worst is only found in far gone florid

psychosis. Our dreams do not induce Post Traumatic

Stress Disorder in us as they ought if there were a

possibility of confusion. In the Advaitic

understanding there are some things we just know, the

dream state is sublated by the waking. ((Prof.V.K.

offers the translation of 'refute' for the now

traditional 'sublate'. Thank you, however I am bound

to say that 'refute' has the connotation of argument

and evidence about it whereas I think that we just

know. On waking the dream is put in its place!))

 

Best Wishes, Michael.