BUDDHISM AND WESTERN PHILOSOPHY – A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Traditionally, a distinction is made between Indian and western thinking, and this is
exemplified in everything from religion to attire, food to education, thought process and
relations, and emotions. While Indian thinking is characterized as spiritual and mystical
in nature, western thinking is scientific, logical, rational, materialistic and
individualistic. However, from ancient past, there were certain similarities between
Indian and Western thought, particularly, Buddhist thought and Western philosophy have
several interesting parallels.
Although the Ancient Greeks undoubtedly had contact with Buddhism, all through
the Middle Ages and beyond, the West was almost totally ignorant of it. Heraclitus
conception of constant flux of Universe, Protagoras man centered philosophy having
similarities with Buddhism. Greek Skepticism particularly that of Pyrrho can be
compared to Buddhist philosophy, especially with the Indian Mādhyamika School.
Hume’s conception of personal identity is very similar to the Buddhist notion of not-self.
Similarly, German Idealism, especially Kant’s, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche’s
philosophy, Phenomenology of Edmund Husserl, Existentialism of Heidegger, Process
philosophy of A. N. Whitehead and Wittgenstein philosophy are having more similarities
with Buddhist thought. Therefore, the present paper is intended to have a critical and
analytical look into the basic similarities in their conceptions of Buddhism and Western
philosophy.