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PHILOSOPHY PROFILE

Nāgārjuna

Second to third century CE

START WITH THE PUZZLE

If nothing has an independent essence, are things unreal or real only through relations?

Evidence-backed moments
2
Timeline events
1
Verified places
0

This is a guided intellectual story assembled from verified claims, works, and events in which this thinker actually appears. It avoids filling gaps with a generic encyclopedia biography.

Why this thinker is worth following

Story 1What is real, and what remains through change?

Nāgārjuna — Emptiness is dependence, not disappearance

The question that opens it

If nothing has an independent essence, are things unreal or real only through relations?

Follow the argument, not just the name
  1. 1

    In Nāgārjuna's Madhyamaka, emptiness means that phenomena lack an independent, unchanging intrinsic nature (svabhāva).

    Check the evidence

    This is an evidence-linked editorial account, not a direct quotation.

    • Nāgārjuna

      Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

      Locator: §2.1 Svabhāva and §2.2 Emptiness

      Open source
  2. 2

    Emptiness is read together with dependent origination, and emptiness itself must not be reified as another ultimate substance.

    Check the evidence

    This is an evidence-linked editorial account, not a direct quotation.

    • Nāgārjuna

      Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

      Locator: §2.2 Emptiness; §3 The Two Truths

      Open source
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Decisive moments in time

  1. Around the second or third century

    The Fundamental Verses re-examine intrinsic nature and causation through dependence and emptiness.

    PerspectiveOpen in question

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