This paper examines the philosophical debate between Nagarjuna and Nyaiyayikas recorded in the Vigrahavyavartani. Nagarjuna’s position is construed in this paper as a critique of metaphysical, epistemological and ethical foundationalism. For Nagarjuna, the validity of foundationalist logic and epistemology, as argued by Nyaiyayikas and Buddhist logicians, is untenable because it is rooted in another untenable metaphysical notion of self-identity (svabhava). The metaphysical presupposition of self-identity would lead to the fallacy of infinite regress. Nagarjuna also contends that the fallacy of foundationalist epistemology has to do with reference theory, both of which are all rooted in the notion of self-identity. Finally, this paper concludes that foundationalism manifests as the pathological syndrome of Cartesianism.
