Philosophy and its Development in The Nikayas and Abhidhamma

Philosophy and its Development in the Nikāyas and Abhidhamma, by Fumimaro Watanabe, is a scholarly study of the historical development of Buddhist philosophical and logical thought from the early Nikāyas and Āgamas to the more systematic literature of the Abhidhamma. First published by Motilal Banarsidass in 1983, the book examines how early Buddhist methods of dialogue, questioning, classification, reasoning, and doctrinal analysis gradually developed into more formal philosophical structures. The work is divided into two major parts: The Origin of Abhidhamma Philosophy and The Development of the Dialogue Form. It discusses the meanings of dhamma, the concept of abhidhamma, the formation and systematization of mātikā doctrinal matrices, methods of answering questions, tetralemmas, forms of reasoning, and the increasingly formalized debates preserved in texts such as the Kathāvatthu and Vijñānakāya. Watanabe also compares Pāli Nikāya materials with Chinese Āgama parallels in order to trace earlier strata of Buddhist thought and the emergence of logical procedures within the Buddhist tradition. This volume is especially valuable for research in Early Buddhist philosophy, Abhidhamma studies, Buddhist logic, doctrinal development, Nikāya–Āgama comparison, and the history of Buddhist thought.