ABSTRACT
I shall proceed as follows. First I shall explain what I take Buddhist reductionism to be.1 Then I shall explore what this might tell us about the nature of the liberated state. This will involve looking briefly at how the cessation of suffering might be thought to result from coming to know that there is no self and that persons are only conventionally real. Then I shall take a rather longer and more systematic look at the claim that knowledge of the truth of reductionism leads one to work for the benefit of all. Then I shall conclude with a few words concerning what I take the overall structure of Buddhist ethics to be. But first a word of caution is necessary concerning my project. What I shall be presenting might best be construed as a rational reconstruction of the Buddhist tradition. Classical Buddhist philosophers do not use precisely the terms I shall use to characterize their positions. nor do they
make precisely the same conceptual connections I shall draw in trying to exhibit the logic of their overall view. It is, I believe, possible to defend my reconstruction through a systematic examination of the classical Buddhist philosophical literature. But I shall do shamefully little of that here. I want instead to sketch the picture that I think makes best sense of all the details I here pass over.
