As origens da desconstrutividade pragmática de Nāgārjuna: as fontes do Catuṣkoṭi nos Nikāyas

Abstract

The main objective of this work is to investigate and understand the use of logical instruments as subordinate to the soteriological endeavor as exposed by the Buddha. To this end, I have used Nāgārjuna’s (150-250 CE) Mūlamadhyamakakārikā as a starting point, paying special attention to his use of the tetralemma (catuṣkoṭi) as a pedagogical instrument that means to put into practice soteriology as a twofold method, (i) deconstructive and (ii) pragmatic. I have sought to survey examples of the use of this logical instrument in the most ancient Buddhist literature currently accessible (Nikāyas) in a way that its application and developments could be studied in their native context as an incipient form of what would be later consolidated as a method. The implications found include the notion of a paraontological discourse whose unveiling of reality through language constitutes a secondary function, as an effect of liberation from suffering (duḥkha).