Science and Modern Taxonomies of Knowledge in Chinese Buddhism

The idea of science became a central element of ideological discourse in China during the first decades of the twentieth century. This talk will focus on the ways in which Chinese Buddhists considered and spoke about arguments about knowledge taking place in Chinese intellectual discourse in the early 1920s. Far from being outsiders in such discussions, Buddhists participated in contemporary debates about the status of science and the structure of disciplines of knowledge, arguing for the importance of their tradition in a quickly modernizing society. Talk is also sponsored by the East Asian Religions Cluster.