[Buddha-l] philosophical (as opposed to agnostical) buddhism

[curt]

Erik Hoogcarspel wrote:
> curt schreef:
>
> Curt, I welcome your suggestion to replace the term 'agnostic' with 
> 'philosophical'. Agnosticism is just mental laziness. The term 
> 'cosmopolism' is however coined by the Stoïcs who were not the first 
> philosophers. Socrates looked upon himself as an Athenian, but ok 
> that's a detail. There is a problem with philosophical Buddhism: most 
> Buddhist hierophants don't have it in their genes. It's easier to 
> teach a cow algebra than to teach a lama or a bikkhu philosophy.
>
There are varying legends about the origins of the word "cosmopolitan" - 
I believe the most persistent legend is that it was first coined by 
Diogenes the Cynic (who was probably the second most admired philosopher 
of the ancient world - after Socrates). All of the "schools" of 
philosophy were deeply cosmopolitan - whether they used the word or not.

We know nothing of Socrates except through other writers - primarily his 
most famous student, Plato. Although there is no evidence that Plato 
called himself a "cosmopolitan" - he most certainly was one. In  one of 
his most famous and influential dialogs, the Timaeus, Plato portrays the 
Greeks literally as "children" with respect to the Egyptians. In the 
First Alcibiades (which some people claim was not actually be Plato - 
but not for any good reason), Socrates portrays the Persians as vastly 
superior to the Greeks in terms of their culture.

If someone doesn't appear to be a philosopher to you, I wouldn't worry 
about it too much. People like Shantideva, Nagarjuna, Tsongkapa, Mipham, 
etc were clearly "philosophers". It is an inherently elitist activity - 
but at the same time if we follow the example of the Greeks this is an 
elite that is open to all regardless of their "position" in society or 
other "worldly" considerations. A slave or a woman or an emperor could 
be a philosopher - and no matter what part of society one looks at, 
philosophers make up a statistically insignificant minority. Most people 
simply have no interest in philosophy - and among those who do there are 
obviously a wide range of capacities - fortunately being a philosopher 
entails no claims about "attainment" - only the claim to love wisdom.

- Curt