PHIL-201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: The Unanswered Questions, Ataraxia, If And Only If
14 Dec 2017
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Furthermore collins argues that all the questions are illformed: they refer to a self which is presumed to exist; thus to answer it, even negatively would be to assume that the question holds. This would confirm the beliefs of the person who holds the wrong view but the wrong views are combatted by silence not by trying to answer them with proposition of the right view. We think of a statement as true iff the fact supporting it is true---we believe that truth is a property of a sentence. But to the buddha, the goal is not to collect more and more true beliefs or true views; these are rafts for relieving suffering. Again, they are instrumental, not something to be clung to. Right views is only valuable insofar as it aids in achieving overcoming attachment. When one is attached to right views, problems arise: it can itself become a source of attachment and thus undermine equanimity and tranquility.
