Events
Fall Term 2012
Thursday, November 1, 2012, 5 pm
Buddhism, Becker and Social Violence: Toward a Buddhist Critical Social Theory
William Waldron, Middlebury College
Conference Room, Institute of East Asian Studies, 2223 Fulton Street, 6th floor
In Escape from Evil, Ernest Becker famously declared that "evil comes from man's urge to heroic victory over evil." He argues that is it our vain attempt — driven by hope, fear and ignorance — to forge unchanging personal and social identities that ends up making "the earth an even more eager graveyard than it naturally is." Indian Buddhist thought similarly suggests that it is our attempt to turn reality on its head (viparyāsa) — to find satisfaction, permanence, and personal identity in a world characterized by its opposites — that ends up making more, not less, suffering and unhappiness. Buddhist thought, though, has not typically directed its trenchant analysis toward the dreadful dynamics of social and political life, leaving modern Buddhists bereft of a critical social theory. This talk suggests such an approach by interweaving ideas from traditional Buddhism, Ernest Becker and the natural and social sciences.
William Waldron teaches courses on Buddhism, Buddhist Philosophy, and the Study of Religion at Middlebury College. He received his B.A. in South Asian Studies and Ph. D. in Buddhist Studies from the University of Wisconsin, after working with native scholars in India, Nepal and Japan. His research focuses on the Yogācāra school of Indian Buddhism. He has published a monograph on the 'store-house consciousness' (ālaya-vijñāna) (The Buddhist Unconscious) and numerous articles on Buddhist philosophy of mind in dialogue with modern philosophy and cognitive science.