[Buddha-l] Prominent Neobuddhist proposes religion based blacklisting for government jobs

[Richard Hayes]

On Aug 1, 2009, at 6:56 PM, andy wrote:

> Well, I don't know if Buddha-l has reached any consensus on Curt's  
> alleged ad
> hominem, and no one has answered my call for a Buddhist evaluation

In Indian tradition, there were various infelicities of presentation  
that could cause a person to lose points in a debate. Quite a number  
of these gaffes had to do with whether a person defending a position  
lived a life that was consistent with that position. For example, in a  
famous example, a Buddhist monk was arguing for the importance of  
universal compassion. As he was making his case, he absent-mindedly  
caught a louse in his fingers and crushed it. His opponent said "Speak  
more loudly! I can't hear what you are saying over the agonized cries  
of the poor louse you have just crushed." The Buddhist lost the debate.

The fallacy of crushing a louse is not mentioned by Copi, but I  
imagine he might say the Buddhist's opponent has used a lousy argument.

Richard