The Metaphysical Foundation of Buddhism and Modern Science

anything else (Descartes); is existing by itself and subsisting through itself
(More); is completely unlimited by others and free from any kind of foreign
command (Spinoza); and exists of itself without anything else (Schelling). The
highest substance was often understood as God.
Since Kant's ‘Copernican Revolution’ the primary question of philosophy has no
longer been to comprehend reality, but rather to fathom the mind, i.e. the
source of perception and knowledge.
For this reason traditional metaphysics has lost ground in the modern world. In
fact its central concepts, such as ‘substance’, ‘reality’, ‘essence’ and ‘being’ have
been replaced by the reductionist modes of thought of modern science. Now
‘atoms’, ‘elementary particles’, ‘energy’, ‘fields of force’ and other concepts
derived from the ‘laws of nature’ are viewed as the fundamental ground.
(2) Subjectivism
Subjectivism is the philosophical theory that all knowledge is subjective, and
relative. According to René Descartes (1596-1650) consciousness is primarily
existent and everything else is sheer content or form, a creation of
consciousness. The summit of subjectivism is the idealism of George Berkeley
(1685-1753). The subjectivism of Immanuel Kant can be considered as
moderated idealism. Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900-2002) emphasises that
subjectivity i.e.
self-awareness has become the fulcrum of modern
philosophical thought which provides us with evidential proof and certainty.
This view has been continually brought into doubt by modern physical science.
However, these doubts have not led to a new view of reality but to a fatal
separation of philosophy and the sciences. This separation has exacerbated
the dualism that preoccupies modern thought. Accordingly, the physicist P.C.W.