Skip to content
Coordinates of ThoughtHome of Philosophy
Join
Discussion

Nagarjuna’s tetralemma is not a rejection of logic

Meera Kulkarni Fellow
· 4 replies · 154 views
Logic & argumentBuddhistMadhyamakaNagarjuna#catuskoti#logic
Follow

The catuṣkoṭi, or tetralemma, considers four options for any proposition: it is, it is not, both, neither. In the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, Nāgārjuna often rejects all four. For example, the Buddha after death neither exists, nor doesn't exist, nor both, nor neither.

Some readers take this as a rejection of logic, a mystical leap beyond the law of non-contradiction. I think that's a misreading. Nāgārjuna argues rigorously; his targets are views that presuppose things have intrinsic nature (svabhāva). If the subject term is empty, all four predicates fail, just as all four options about "the present king of France is bald" fail.

Graham Priest and Jay Garfield have offered a different reading, using paraconsistent logic, where some contradictions are true. I find it fascinating but I'm not convinced it's needed. What do others think?

LikeReply
Follow4 replies

Members reply here. Reading is always free.

Sign in to reply

4 replies

  1. Tomasz Wójcik

    Fellow

    Your king of France analogy is essentially a presupposition-failure reading, like Strawson's. That's the most conservative interpretation and keeps classical logic intact. Priest's reading is more adventurous; he thinks Nāgārjuna reaches genuine contradictions at the limits of thought. I lean towards your reading but find Priest's hard to dismiss in some passages.

    Helpful · 1
  2. Priya Raghavan

    Fellow

    As a non-specialist: does it matter which reading is right for what Nāgārjuna is trying to do? He seems more interested in loosening our attachment to views than in building a logical system.

    Helpful · 2
    1. Meera Kulkarni

      Fellow

      Priya, it matters because the tradition itself cares. Madhyamaka thinkers debated with Nyāya logicians precisely on logical grounds. If Nāgārjuna rejected logic, those debates would make no sense.

      Helpful · 3
  3. Vikram Sethi

    Fellow

    As a maths teacher, what I find interesting is that "both" and "neither" correspond to the two non-classical options in four-valued logics like Belnap's. Indian philosophy laid out the logical space centuries before Western logicians formalised it.