The legitimation of Buddhism through science
Modalities and appropriations in the Argentine religious field
Keywords:
Legitimation, Buddhism, Science, ReligionAbstract
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.
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