Divine Contradiction : Being vs Non-Being in Brāhmanic-Hindu Thought

Professor Purushottama Bilimoria will be presenting at the Philosophy Department's Brown Bag Event:

Divine Contradiction : Being vs Non-Being  in Brāhmanic-Hindu Thought

Like all great traditions of philosophy, Brāhmanic-Hinduism recognized the power and impact of contradictions in discourses about the ultimate. But how did Hindu philosophers deal with the presence and supposed menace of such contradictions? 

I will first lay out instances of contradictions expressed in the ancient poetical and mythical treatises that treat of grand metaphysical quandaries and issues, in cosmogony, existence and the possibility of non-existence or nothingness, and the purpose and meaning of being.

Second, I will address various ways in which prominent classical philosophers (e.g. Gauḍapāda) dealt with certain rabid contradictions highlighted by their adversaries (Buddhist, Materialist and Sāṃkhya thinkers between the polymorphic pantheon of the ritualist Vedas against the monist-pantheism of the Upaniṣads. The Vedāntins proceeded by establishing the unconditional unity of Brahman/ātman (Being/self). The idea of ‘Being’ receives a new nuance (as with Plotinus further eastwards). Various strategies were evolved to both reject outright contradictions and to save those that could be re-assigned trivalent value. Śaṅkara (8^th cent) is a case in point, as will be shown.

In this way, apparent contradictions are recast as iterations of double negation, emptiness (of phenomena), or just perhaps ineffable.  Conventional reality is relegated a second-tier, as distinct from the higher-order knowledge of Brahman. Paraconsistent logic helps to tease out certain tensed binaries, especially between transcendence and the immanent other. Elsewhere, a teleo-cosmological argument for the existence of a Personal God is formulated, but fails due to its flawed theory of causation, etc.

Lastly, dissembling Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja  (11^th cent.) formulates ‘Qualified’ nondualism, where difference is theorized as a significant marker of the relation between Brahman and the phenomenal world (as God’s Body).  Madhva (13^th cent.) breaks the gordian knot by showing that the grand Identity Doctrine (A=B) is contradictory to common experience, and thus heralds in dualism (of God and the world).

If you have any questions please reach out to Professor Purushottama Bilimoria at pbilimoria@usfca.edu.