The concept of exclusion (apoha) in Buddhist philosophy

0572796 - OÚ 2024 RIV SI eng J - Journal Article
Holba, Jiří
The concept of exclusion (apoha) in Buddhist philosophy.
Ars & Humanitas. Roč. 16, č. 2 (2022), s. 59-75. ISSN 1854-9632
Institutional support: RVO:68378009
Keywords : apoha * metaphysical realism * nominalism * particulars * universals * Buddhist philosophy
OECD category: Philosophy, History and Philosophy of science and technology
Impact factor: 0.1, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Open access
https://journals.uni-lj.si/arshumanitas/article/view/13163/11885

This article critically examines the Buddhist semantic theory of apoha (lit. “exclusion”), by means of which Buddhist nominalists have attempted to resolve the question of the status of universals (sāmānya) and abstract entities in disputes with their opponents, who were metaphysical realists. The concept of apoha is methodologically based on a double negation, in which the generic term X refers to all the entities that are not non-X. Through the exclusion of everything that is not a cow it is possible to refer to a particular cow without accepting the existence of the universal term “cow”.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0343501