Being and Knowing...

AD: In philosophy you have things like epistemology, axiology, ontology. Now, what does ontology mean?

S: The study of being.

AD: All right, what does epistemology mean?

S: The study of knowledge.

AD: Of knowing. Okay. So then, if I say epistemology, I'm referring to the analysis directed towards knowledge. If I say ontology, the analysis is towards being. I'll be analyzing the nature of the world, not the nature of knowing the world. So when the Buddhists are speaking about egoless being, they're speaking about the nature of the World Idea. They're not speaking about the knower of the World Idea.

S: So you're not making a hierarchy between the principle of awareness and the principle of being. You're just speaking of two complementary principles. Is that correct?

AD: They're not even complementary; that's only one way of looking at it.

S: What would be a better way of saying it?

AD: Well, they're different aspects of the total picture that philosophy can give you. You can approach it through value. You can approach it through knowing. You can approach it through being. Any of these approaches are legitimate. So the Vedantist is approaching it through knowledge; the Buddhist is approaching it through being. You end up calling it Nirvana; the Vedantists will end up calling it Atma.

-- Anthony Damiani and student 8/2/84