Knowra Buddhist epistemology Buddhist epistemology Buddhist epistemology examines how knowledge arises, how perception and inference justify cognition, and how these processes relate to liberation and Buddhist accounts of reality.
Pramāṇa : A means of acquiring knowledge or warranted cognition in Indian philosophy. Buddhist epistemologists analyze which means can establish reliable cognition.
Dignāga : A fifth- to sixth-century Buddhist philosopher who systematized Buddhist logic and epistemology. His account established the two-source framework later Buddhist epistemologists refined.
Vasubandhu : A fourth- or fifth-century Buddhist philosopher whose works address mind, perception, and Buddhist doctrine. His analyses of perception and representation preceded Dignāga's systematic epistemology.
Buddhist logic : Buddhist systems of reasoning, inference, and debate developed in India and later Asia. It puts epistemological theories to work in structured argument and proof.
Realism : The philosophical view that at least some objects or properties exist independently of cognition. Buddhist critiques of universals and external objects challenge realist assumptions.
Perception : The direct awareness of objects through sensory or mental cognition. Its status as direct, nonconceptual knowledge is central to Buddhist accounts of knowing.
Dharmakīrti : A seventh-century Buddhist philosopher whose works shaped later Indian and Tibetan logic. His theories of perception, inference, and proof became the tradition's most influential formulation.
Nyāya : An Indian philosophical tradition centered on logic, debate, and methods of knowledge. Buddhist epistemologists disputed Nyāya accounts of perception, inference, and language.
Buddhist debate : A formal exchange of arguments used in Buddhist education and philosophical inquiry. Rules of inference and evidence shape how Buddhist claims are defended and challenged.
Idealism : The view that reality is fundamentally mental or dependent on mind. Some Buddhist accounts of cognition are associated with idealist interpretations, though not all are.
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