Method

Prasaṅga

Classification

Method family: Dialogical
Domains: Metaphysics, Philosophy of Mind

Overview

Prasaṅga examines a thesis by drawing out consequences of its own assumptions, often without replacing it with an independent metaphysical counter-thesis.

Purpose. The method loosens commitment to claims of intrinsic existence by showing what follows when those claims are worked through. Prasaṅga is not identical to generic reductio: its role and force belong to Madhyamaka debates about how, or whether, one should establish a thesis of one's own. Bhāvaviveka held that a Mādhyamika should also offer independent (svatantra) arguments, while Candrakīrti defended Buddhapālita's use of consequences alone — the origin of the later labels Svātantrika and Prāsaṅgika.

Characteristic operations

Take up the thesis: Begin from the opponent's stated claim and commitments.
Trace its consequences: Apply the claim consistently to the case under examination.
Show the difficulty: Reveal contradiction, circularity, regress, or another consequence the thesis cannot sustain.
Withhold a reified alternative: Avoid turning the critique into another claim about an intrinsically existing reality.

Used by traditions

Madhyamaka

Applied to questions

References

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Madhyamaka, §3 ('Buddhapālita'), on the method of showing that a thesis entails unwelcome consequences, and §5.2 ('Contributions'), on Candrakīrti's defense of that Prāsaṅgika approach against Bhāvaviveka's Svātantrika critique
Mark Siderits and Shōryū Katsura, Nāgārjuna's Middle Way: Mūlamadhyamakakārikā (Wisdom Publications, 2013)
Nāgārjuna, Mūlamadhyamakakārikā I.1–14 (analysis of conditions and production)
Nāgārjuna, Mūlamadhyamakakārikā XVIII.1–6 (analysis of self and appropriation)