Buddhism & science

Published in the early twentieth century, this pioneering work represents one of the first serious scholarly attempts to examine Buddhism through the lens of modern scientific inquiry. Paul Dahlke, a German scholar and practitioner, argues that Buddhist philosophy and the empirical methods of Western science arrive at remarkably similar conclusions about the nature of reality, consciousness, and causation. Rather than positioning Buddhism as mystical or irrational, Dahlke presents it as a rational system of thought that anticipates many insights later articulated by physicists and psychologists. The book traces convergences between Buddhist epistemology and scientific method, exploring how both traditions reject dogma in favor of direct investigation of experience. This historic text laid groundwork for the dialogue between Eastern and Western thought that would flourish throughout the twentieth century. For readers interested in the history of ideas, comparative philosophy, or the rational foundations of Buddhist practice, Dahlke's work remains a fascinating artifact of early cross-cultural intellectual engagement.