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Beyond Dualism, Substantialism and Nihilism in Sociology Through Nagarjuna’S Middle Way Perspective

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Beyond Dualism, Substantialism and Nihilism in Sociology Through Nagarjuna’S Middle Way Perspective TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION: BEYOND DUALISM, SUBSTANTIALISM AND NIHILISM IN SOCIOLOGY THROUGH NAGARJUNA’S MIDDLE WAY PERSPECTIVE.............................1 PART ONE: THE FUNDAMENTAL WISDOM OF THE MIDDLE WAY PERSPECTIVE: NAGARJUNA’S MUULAMADHYAMAKAKARRIKAA AND ITS SOCIOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS..................................................................................................................................23 1. THE CORE INSIGHT OF NAGARJUNA’S MADHYAMIKA ....................................................................23 1.1 Sunyata (Emptiness) ...............................................................................................................34 1.2 Pratitya-samutpada (Dependent co-arising) ..........................................................................40 1.3 Praj-napti (Verbal designation)..............................................................................................47 2. FROM MADHYAMIKA TOWARDS A NON-DUALISTIC, RELATIONAL AND PROCESSUAL WAY OF THINKING...........................................................................................................................................57 2.1 Non-dualistic Thinking ...........................................................................................................57 2.2 Relational Thinking.................................................................................................................62 2.3 Processual Thinking ...............................................................................................................69 PART TWO: A MIDDLE WAY EXAMINATION OF THE METHODOLOGY OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES............................................................................................................................75 3. BEYOND DUALISTIC SUBSTANTIALISM—METHODOLOGICAL INDIVIDUALISM VS. METHODOLOGICAL COLLECTIVISM....................................................................................................75 3.1 Methodological Individualism ................................................................................................76 3.2 Methodological Collectivism ..................................................................................................83 3.3 Towards a Relational-Processual Methodology.....................................................................89 4. BEYOND POSITIVISM, INTERPRETISM, RELATIVISM AND NIHILISM –A RELATIONAL-PROCESSUAL AND HERMENEUTICAL TURN..............................................................................................................97 4.1 Positivistic Sociology..............................................................................................................98 4.3 From Lived Experience (Erlebnis) to Life Experience (Erfarung) and From Dualism to the Fusion of Horizons —Gadamer’s Hermeneutics ........................................................................118 4.4 Beyond Relativism and Nihilism—A Relational-Processual and Hermeneutic Examination131 PART THREE: A MIDDLE WAY EXAMINATION OF THE THEORY OF SOCIETY.........143 5. BEYOND THEORETICAL DICHOTOMIZATION AND SUBSTANTIALIZATION .....................................143 5.1 A Relational-Processual View of The Constitution of The Self—George Hebert Mead .......146 5.2 A Figurational, or Process Sociology—Norbert Elias..........................................................163 5.3 Habitus, Field and Capital in the Light of Methodological Relationalism—Pierre Bourdieu ....................................................................................................................................................181 PART FOUR: A MIDDLE WAY EXAMINATION OF THE CONSTITUTION OF SOCIETY ..............................................................................................................................................................199 6. TIME/SPACE, LANGUAGE, SELF AND SOCIETY..............................................................................199 6.1 The Temporality and Spatiality of The Constitution of Society.............................................199 6.2 The Linguistic Dimension of The Constitution of Society.....................................................224 6.3 The Constitution of the Self and the Society- Beyond the Individual-Social Antinomy.........238 PART FIVE: CONCLUSION ...........................................................................................................269 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..............................................................................................................................293 INTRODUCTION: Beyond Dualism, Substantialism and Nihilism in Sociology Through Nagarjuna’s Middle Way Perspective This world, O Kaccayana, generally proceeds on a duality, of (the view of) existence and (the view of) non-existence. But he who with right insight sees the uprising of the world as it really is does not hold with the non-existence of the world. But he who with right insight sees the passing away of the world as it really is does not hold with the existence of the world. Everything exists - this is one extreme. Nothing exists - this is another extreme. Not approaching either extreme the Tathagata (the Buddha) teaches you a doctrine by the middle.1 This quotation is an early Buddhist discourse referring to the dualistic opposition between two views, one of which is the view of permanent substantialism or eternalism (sassatavada), which upholds that all things really exist inherently and independently. This is also called extreme realism. The other extreme is the view of nihilism or annihilation (ucchedavada), which advocates that all things do not exist in any sense. This is also called extreme skepticism. The former is sometimes referred to as bhava-ditthi, the belief in being, and the latter as vibhava-ditthi, the belief in non-being. The world at large has a general tendency to lean toward one of these two views. To fall to the extreme of substantialism is to hold that, in the final analysis, phenomena truly exist. To fall to the extreme of nihilism is to hold that phenomena don't have any kind of existence at all. The middle way perspective attempts to free the individual from these two extremes and affirms neither being nor nonbeing. This view is advocated using Madhyamika-style arguments to show the incoherence of all extremist views, with the realization that no attachment of being, nonbeing, both being and nonbeing, neither being nor nonbeing is rationally justified. One who correctly understands the emptiness, dependent co-arising and nominality of the world should be able to unchain him/herself from the extremes of substantialism and nihilism. Likewise, many theories in social science, as profound as they may seem, cannot break away from this “either-or” dualism. There are a variety of dualistic substantialisms in terms of the “either-or” dichotomies like: methodological individualism vs. methodological collectivism; positivistic sociology vs. intepretivist 1 From the Kaccayanagotta Sutta of the Samyutta Nikaya XII 15, where the Buddha addresses Kaccayana Gotta (on Right View). Cited from “The Buddhist Critique of Sassatavada and Ucchedavada: The Key to a Proper Understanding of the Origin and the Doctrines of early Buddhism,” by Y. Karunadasa, in The Middle Way, August 1999, p. 69 (volume 74:2). 1 sociology; agency vs. structure, and so on. In addition to that, there is also another kind of dualistic dichotomy, that is, universalism vs. relativism, or nihilism. Many sociological theories are ensnared into one of these views and cling to it as the only right one, except only very few of them try to transcend these pairs of oppositions in terms of the relational-processual perspective. Such as Mead’s notion of “social self,” “the dialectic between I and me;” Elias’ notion of “figuration,” “civilizing process,” “interdependence between socio- and psycho-genesis;” Bourdieu’s notion of “habitus,” “field,” “interrelationship between social structure and mental structure.” We will articulate these views and alternatives in the later discussion. What intrigues me here is the truth that through the demolition of the two-extreme views, Buddhist Madhyamika polemics are presented to unfold its own non-dualistic, non-substantialist and non-nihilistic view, a middle way relational-processual perspective so to speak. According to the middle way perspective, based on the notion of emptiness, dependent co-arising and nominality, phenomena exist in a relative and nominal way, that is, they are empty of any kind of inherent and independent existence. In other words, phenomena are dependently arisen in relation to the dependent arising of other phenomena. Phenomena are regarded as dependent events existing relationally and processually rather than permanent things, which have their own entity sui generis, or self-nature. Besides, phenomena are non-substantial and nominally true. To be true in this sense is to be true in virtue of a particular linguistic convention. Thus, the extreme of substantialism should be refuted. By the same token, dependent co-arising is something more than just none, or non-existent. Because if a thing is non-existent, how could it have a condition? Without condition how can we talk about something like non-existent? Therefore, nihilism is unacceptable too. The insight of emptiness, dependent co-arising and nominality are therefore central to Madhyamika (the middle way perspective.) Inspired by Nagarjuna’s non-dualistic, non-substantialist and non-nihilistic middle way
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