[Buddha-l] Dogmatic opinions vs. philosophical convictions

[Richard Hayes]

Friends,

David Seyfort Ruegg wrote in his 1981 monograph, The Literature of the  
Madhyamaka School, the following:

\begin{quote}
Accordingly, the Madhyamaka can properly be said to have a  
philosophical theory (darśana)—as distinct from a speculative view  
or a dogmatic opinion (dṛṣṭi)—albeit not one founded on any  
conceptuality construed hypostatizing of some kind of entity, be it  
positive, negative, both or neither. (p. 3)
\end{quote}

Various scholars of Indian thought I have known have stressed the  
difference between an unconsidered view (dṛṣṭi) and a carefully  
reasoned position (darśana). What I am wondering is how widespread it  
was in classical Indian literature to use those two Sanskrit terms to  
refer to the distinction between a "dogmatic opinion" and a  
"philosophical theory". I also wonder when that distinction began to  
be made. It seems not to have been operative at the time when the  
Buddhist eightfold path was formulated, since the first item on the  
list is samyagdṛṣṭi, which is unlikely to mean "Right dogmatic  
opinion."

Ashok, are you there? Dan? Any ideas?

Thanks,
Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico
http://www.unm.edu/~rhayes
rhayes at unm.edu