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Paper short abstract:

My paper will analyze the proclamation of early 20th-century Buddhist master Taixu that Europe and the US should embrace Buddhism as their new faith, since it is more in line with modern science than theistic Christianity. I will draw upon two of his most significant talks on the topic.

Paper long abstract:

In early 20th century China, technology, and science became the central theme of apologetic talks by the Buddhist monk Taixu, a leading reformer of the time. Taixu aimed to alter public perception of Buddhism from a declining superstitious tradition to one appealing to wide audiences. To achieve this, he highlighted parts of the tradition, which matched current intellectual trends. Therefore, in a country focused on economic development and western style modernization, he placed the highly systematic and philosophical weishi or yogācāra Buddhism at the center of his teachings. According to him, weishi Buddhism was the most developed and scientific among all religions, given its logical reasoning, lack of dependence on faith, and the teaching of emptiness (śūnyatā), perceived to be in line with quantum physics. However, he was also quick to point out that Buddhism is more advanced than science since the latter will always be constrained to material reality, whereas Buddhism can reach the ultimate reality of the world through meditation and the right awareness.

Then, in his apologetics towards Christianity, this dual relation of Buddhism and science took central stage. He claimed that given modern technological advances, ethical systems based on a deity lost their relevance to society, leading to moral disorientation and abandonment of religion. Hence, accepting the scientific tradition of Buddhism would both restore morality and the esteem of religions.

The paper will analyze two of Taixu’s most famous speeches on the topic to discuss his arguments in detail, namely, 'The Buddha Dharma and Science' and 'China needs Christianity, and Europe and the US need Buddhism'. Through the first, it will elaborate the dual relationship of Buddhism and science, and through the second, it will show why in Taixu’s opinion Europe and the US should embrace Buddhism as their new religion in the modern era.

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Paper short abstract:

The paper aims at analyzing selected examples of the rationalist discourse and its rhetorical techniques that can be found in the early Buddhist literature. The analysis will take into account the discursive practice depicted in the literature of the Pali Canon.

Paper long abstract:

The paper aims at analyzing the rhetorical techniques that can be found in the rationalist discourse of the earliest Buddhist literary sources. The analysis will take into account the discursive practices depicted in the literature of the Pali Canon, especially the dialogues of the Buddha with Brahmins. In particular I will analyze dialogues that involve the critical discourse on caste and arguments for its irrationality. In the next part I will reflect on a poem of Punnika from the Therigatha in which a Buddhist woman criticizes lack of critical reasoning of a Brahmin. I would conclude with reflecting on the rhetoric of the Kalama Sutta, which is one of the most frequently mentioned early texts in the context of current discourse on relations between Buddhism and science, and reflect on its arguments on rationality and skepticism.

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Paper short abstract:

Supernatural beliefs and their relationship to belief in science are investigated in a sample of science-oriented individuals. The results indicate the relevance of supernatural beliefs for some science-oriented Finns but also point towards the primary importance of secular beliefs.

Paper long abstract:

Previous work in the science of religion indicates that although science and supernatural belief are often seen as contradictory, people apply both scientific and supernatural explanations for the same events. Furthermore, some individuals integrate scientific and supernatural views into a singular explanation. However, few studies have investigated supernatural explanations and their coexistence with scientific knowledge in individuals who hold science in high regard.

In my research, I investigated the supernatural beliefs of science-oriented Finns, and how their supernatural beliefs are associated with belief in science. The data comprised structured and open-ended responses about domains of fundamental concern (origins, death, and suffering) from religious and non-religious Finns recruited via pro-science organisations (N = 387). The analysis applied a quantitative approach and mixed-method text coding. The results show that some science-oriented individuals also invoke supernatural causality in addition to natural explanations. Supernatural belief and belief in science are often applied as alternative sense-making strategies for phenomena such as death and what follows. However, a minority of science-oriented participants integrated their supernatural beliefs with scientific knowledge. Supernatural and scientific explanations were integrated in two ways: 1) supernatural causality was perceived as the ultimate cause and the scientific explanation as the proximate cause (e.g. God’s design in Big Bang), or 2) a similarity heuristic was applied, for instance by stating that immortality of the soul aligns with the law of conservation of energy. Despite the relevance of supernatural beliefs for some science-oriented individuals, the overall results point towards the primary importance of secular beliefs (and more particularly, belief in science) for individuals who hold science in high regard.