Buddhism as an Idealist Philosophy?
tl;dr: idealism is almost universally considered wrong in Western philsophy, could/would/will/can this change your mind about Buddhist philsophy?
This is a question coming from someone who, although has an intellectual interest with Buddhism, has not (at least not so far) indulged in observance or practice of its teachings. Which means a) I apologise for any insensitivity, and b) I apologise for any ignorance or strawmanning - my knowledge is limited.
From my research on Buddhism itself, and also what other people have said vis-à-vis Buddhism being Idealist, I don't think it too controversial to say that it is. Insofar as Idealism is a term in Western Philsophy defined in either of the following 2 ways:
1/ something mental (the mind, spirit, reason, will) is the ultimate foundation of all reality, or even exhaustive of reality
2/ although the existence of something independent of the mind is conceded, everything that we can know about this mind-independent “reality” is held to be so permeated by the creative, formative, or constructive activities of the mind (of some kind or other) that all claims to knowledge must be considered, in some sense, to be a form of self-knowledge.
With the former being the metaphysical/ontological definition, the latter being the formal/epistemological definition. Source: Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philsophy.
So firstly, I should say the following questions and observations are only relevant if you do consider Buddhism to fit within either of those definition. Anyway, I ask this because in Western philosophy, idealism (both forms), is considered almost universally to be incorrect. The arguments against idealism by Bertrand Russell and GE Moore so convincing that Idealism simply isn't considered a valid philosophical position anymore (other than for historical curiosity). The PhilPapers survey found that just 4.3% of English speaking academic agreed with it.
Given this, firstly, would you consider reading the arguments against idealism produced during the 20th century that have been considered so conclusive in the English speaking world, and if so could you envisagen them changing your mind? Or has scripture, experience, and your own reason proven to yourself so conclusively that the Buddhist philsophy is correct that you doubt you'd ever have your mind changed?
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