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- W2610731850 abstract "This dissertation comprises two main sections. The first section, comprising Chapters 2and 3, addresses the methodological problems with seeking to understand Buddhist ethicsthrough categorizing it into a Western ethical system. Since Buddhist ethics has often beeninterpreted as either a type of consequentialism or a type of virtue ethics, Chapter 2 is devoted toaddressing the problems with a consequentialist reading of Buddhist ethics, and Chapter 3 tohighlighting the structural differences that inhibit a faithful reading of Buddhist ethics as a typeof virtue ethics. In the second section, consisting of of Chapters 4 and 5, I argue that whenBuddhist ethical writings are considered on their own terms, there emerges a recurrent anddominant emphasis on the phenomenology of moral acts. Chapter 4 draws on Buddhistpsychological texts to elucidate the Buddhist explanation of the foundational components ofexperience and the way in which these are ethically significant. Chapter 5 looks at Buddhistethical texts to demonstrate that mental states are prioritized in ethical discussions and that boththe Buddhist moral problem and moral solution pertain to the way we see and experience theworld.Since Goodman has argued most extensively that Buddhist ethics is best understood as akind of universalist consequentialism, Chapter 2 begins with an examination of Goodman’smethodology and arguments. Goodman identifies an agent-neutral approach as the centralcharacteristic of a consequentialist ethical system, the characteristic that differentiates it fromsystems of virtue ethics, which are agent-relative. He interprets themes within Buddhist textssuch as the promotion of self-sacrifice and the dedication of merit as evidence of the agentneutral approach of a consequentialist ethical system. I aim to demonstrate that these examplesshould be read as moral instructions for the agent’s motivational state rather than evidencesupporting that Buddhist ethics is a type of consequentialism. In doing so, I intend todemonstrate that Goodman’s methodology of confining the inquiry into Buddhist ethics to itscategorization as one of two Western ethical systems based on the criteria of Western ethicalthought limits the possibility for a comprehensive understanding of Buddhist ethics.I then turn to arguments made by Goodman, Williams, and Siderits specifically in regardto Śāntideva. These scholars each contend that Śāntideva’s metaphysical position commits himto a universalist consequentialist ethics and point to his discussion of the ethical meditativepractice of equalizing and exchanging self and other in Chapter 8 of How to Lead an AwakenedLife as evidence. I will contest the claim that the Buddhist doctrine of selflessness entails theagent neutrality that characterizes consequentialism. I will argue that Śāntideva’s use of themetaphysical doctrine of selflessness within an ethical context does not aim to demonstrate amoral obligation based on agent neutrality, and thus is not a form of consequentialism. Instead, Iwill argue that he uses it to effect a psychological shift in the agent for the purposes of moraldevelopment.I argue that, in Chapter 8, Śāntideva is simply pointing out the irrationality ofdistinguishing pains based on their owners, together with the possibility for taking on theconcerns of others as our own, because of the malleable boundaries of the conception of identity.I contend that, in this section of his treatise, Śāntideva is instructing the practitioner to harnessthe powerful psychological forces that already exist within our experience, such as the aversionto our own pain or attachment to our future selves, and extend their scope through expanding theconception of self, transforming our experience and moral conduct from one motivated by selfconcernto one centered on concern for others.After arguing that the emphasis on the mental domain of the agent fatally undermines aconsequentialist interpretation of Buddhist ethics, in Chapter 3, I address the virtue ethicsinterpretation. While it might seem that an emphasis on the mental states of the agent couldaccord with a form of virtue ethics, I argue that there are structural differences between the twosystems that preclude this classification. It is Keown who offers the most detailed account ofthis position, so using his arguments I engage in a comparative analysis of the structures of virtueethics and Buddhist ethics. I identify five critical structural features of virtue ethics and arguethat they do not characterize Buddhist ethics. I will argue that neither the Buddhist account ofthe relationship between virtues and nirvana nor the Buddhist explanation of moral choice andagency are consistent with a virtue ethics.In the second section, I begin the inquiry into Buddhist ethical writings on their ownterms. To argue that moral phenomenology is foundational to Buddhist ethical thought, inChapter 4, I turn first to the Buddhist psychological treatises of Vasubandhu, Asaṅga, andBuddhaghosa, highlighting the fundamental mental processes that shape experience with the intention of demonstrating that these Buddhist psychology texts provide the foundation forunderstanding that the way we construct our experience of the world is ethically significant.In Chapter 5, I turn to Mahāyāna Buddhist ethical texts to demonstrate how thispsychological foundation is used in these texts in the formulation of a moral phenomenology. Iuse primarily the works of Āryadeva and Śāntideva; I call attention to the fact that these textsprioritize mental states in their ethical discussions and present a division of two types of moralperception: the confused way of seeing the world that is characterized by vice and the accurateway of seeing the world that characterizes virtue. These texts identify the moral problem withconfusion about reality, and the moral solution as a transformation of the way we experience theworld through the cultivation of a metaphysically accurate understanding. In the final stage ofmaking the case for moral phenomenology as central to Buddhist ethical thought, I turn to thePrajnāparamitā literature, focusing on the Heart Sūtra and Diamond Cutter Sūtra todemonstrate that in these sūtras we can find the seeds of the ethical system of Āryadeva andŚāntideva since they also stress the importance of a transformation of vision as the basis ofethical activity." @default.
- W2610731850 created "2017-05-12" @default.
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- W2610731850 date "2016-01-01" @default.
- W2610731850 modified "2023-09-27" @default.
- W2610731850 title "Experience and morality : Buddhist ethics as moral phenomenology" @default.
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