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Christian Thomas Kohl The Metaphysical Foundations of Buddhism and Modern Science

Christian Thomas Kohl The Metaphysical Foundations of Buddhism and Modern Science

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Section VIII. We have now reached the heart <strong>of</strong> our topic. What is the<br />

store-house <strong>of</strong> that crude evidence on which philosophy should base its<br />

discussion, <strong>and</strong> in what terms should its discussion be expressed?<br />

<strong>The</strong> main sources <strong>of</strong> evidence respecting this width <strong>of</strong> human experience<br />

are language, social institutions, <strong>and</strong> action, including thereby the fusion<br />

<strong>of</strong> the three which is language interpreting action <strong>and</strong> social institutions.<br />

Language delivers its evidence in three chapters, one on the meanings <strong>of</strong><br />

words, another on the meanings enshrined in grammatical forms, <strong>and</strong> the<br />

third on meanings enshrined in grammatical forms, <strong>and</strong> the third on<br />

meanings beyond individual words <strong>and</strong> beyond grammatical forms,<br />

meanings miraculously revealed in great literature.<br />

Language is incomplete <strong>and</strong> fragmentary, <strong>and</strong> merely registers a stage in<br />

the average advance beyond ape-mentality. But all men flashes <strong>of</strong> insight<br />

beyond meanings already stabilized in etymology <strong>and</strong> grammar. Hence the<br />

role <strong>of</strong> literature, the role <strong>of</strong> the special sciences, <strong>and</strong> the role <strong>of</strong><br />

philosophy: - in their various ways engaged in finding linguistic<br />

expressions for meanings as yet unexpressed.<br />

95

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