[Buddha-l] Maybe I was wrong

[Erik Hoogcarspel]

Op 27-07-10 23:15, Richard Nance schreef:
> "The historiographical focus (even philology is on the wane) that has
> overtaken many Buddhist studies programs is fine if one wants to enjoy the
> city by the veneer of its buildings. If you want to try to get inside the
> lives of the inhabitants of the city, philosophy and psychology are
> indispensible."
>
> I don't know what is indispensable. But the opposition drawn here may
> be misleading. The fact that buildings are equipped with a certain
> veneer may suggest something about the "inner lives" of the
> inhabitants of that city: namely, that at the time those veneers were
> put up, they favored (and could afford) veneers of just that kind.
> This might tell us something psychologically (or perhaps even
> philosophically) interesting about those people -- or about people in
> general. A lot more work would need to be done to ferret out just what
> that might be, but I wouldn't want to rule out the possibility.
>
>    
The problem is that the art of interpreting the veneer, i.e. semiology 
and hermeneutics, is practically unknown to those who write about the 
inner lives.


erik