Basic Philosophical Questions

Abstract

This chapter focuses on Buddhist philosophy, which involves thinking hard, often in detailed terms, about what reality is really like. What is there? This is the most basic question one can ask when trying to figure out what reality is really like. Another important task is figuring out which things are fundamental, that is, which things depend on other things? The whole point of examining philosophical questions is to help solve the problem of how to live. However, even though knowledge plays an important role in Buddhism, not all knowledge is equally useful. This is not particular to Buddhism: There are lots of things we might know that will not make a difference to life. The central Buddhist idea is that solving the problem in a sustainable way involves forming and executing a plan in light of how the world really is. For Buddhists, a large part of this project involves finding and removing distorting ways of relating to the world.