The Five Principles of Middle Way Philosophy - Living Experientially in a World of Uncertainty - Robert M. Ellis
f. Scepticism does not Threaten Meaning
The Five Principles of Middle Way Philosophy - Living Experientially in a World of Uncertainty - Robert M. Ellis
Robert M. Ellis [+]
Middle Way Society
Robert M. Ellis is author of a range of interdisciplinary books on Middle Way Philosophy, both within and beyond Buddhism. These have included The Buddha’s Middle Way: Experiential Judgement in His Life and Teaching (Equinox Publishing, 2019) and Archetypes in Religion and Beyond: A Practical Theory of Human Integration and Inspiration (Equinox Publishing, 2022). He is also founder of the Middle Way Society and of Tirylan House Retreat Centre in Wales.
Description
Scepticism is wrongly accused of threatening meaning. The accusation that it undermines absolute religious beliefs that are a source of meaningfulness depends on the confusion of profound religious experience with absolute beliefs that have no necessary relationship with it. Wittgenstein’s accusation that scepticism is meaningless depends on the questionable assumptions that scepticism makes absolute claims, that belief precedes meaning, and that meaning is judged by communicative function rather than being an experience.