The legitimation of Buddhism through science

Modalities and appropriations in the Argentine religious field

Authors

Keywords:

Legitimation, Buddhism, Science, Religion

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate how Buddhism is related to science as a mechanism for legitimizing its meditative practices and worldview. The first part takes a historical review of the different moments that mark the dialogue between Buddhism and the scientific worldview in the Western sociocultural context. Then, the paper explores the narratives of various contemporary Buddhist leaders and personalities from the scientific field to identify the different argumentative modalities that support the compatibility between Buddhism and science. From this conceptual scheme, the last section of the article analyzes the stories of committed practitioners of Buddhist centers formed in Argentina in recent decades to investigate the modalities of reception and appropriation of this discourse.

Author Biography

Catón Carini, CONICET - UNLP

Licenciado en Antropología por la Universidad Nacional de la Plata (UNLP), Magister en Antropología Social por la Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) y Doctor en Ciencias Naturales por la UNLP. Actualmente se desempeña como investigador adjunto del Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) y como Ayudante Diplomado de la cátedra Antropología Cultural y Social de la Facultad de Psicología de la UNLP. Además, participa en el Equipo de Antropología de la Religión (EAR), radicado en el Instituto de Ciencias Antropológicas de la Universidad de Buenos Aires y del Grupo Interdisciplinario de Estudios sobre el Pluralismo Religioso en la Argentina (GIEPRA), donde ha integrado y codirigido varios proyectos de investigación y de extensión.

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2023-1

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Published

2023-07-27

Issue

Vol. 23 No. 1 (2023): Religion and humor

Section

Intercâmbio

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