Is the abhidhammic view on mind an externalist or internalist one?
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I'd like to try and categorize the abhidhammic view into either as an internalist or externalist or know if it's possible at all, knowing how the historical Buddha himself even refused to either ultimately deny or agree with the usual problem that would easily decide this issue.
As far as I understand my main problem is that cetasikas seem to imply an externalist view (citta comes into contact with something, they also rise and disappear with citta together) because according to externalism, for a mind content to arise, *it is necessary to be related to the environment in the right way*.
Citta itself seems to be an intrinsic property though, as far as every agent is capable of knowing something. This strongly implies an internalist viewpoint (there are intrinsic and unique properties of agents that mental contents supervene upon), as *our contents are individuated by the properties of our bodies*.
Asked by nullfrequency
(11 rep)
Oct 18, 2018, 07:55 PM
Last activity: Nov 19, 2018, 11:25 AM
Last activity: Nov 19, 2018, 11:25 AM