ABSTRACT:
The expression 'thinking through culture' catches something important in the present version of anthropology of knowledge. It is an approach to epistemological and ontological problems by thinking through the other culture. Particularly, we can think through Buddhism in order to get a perspective on our western idioms of thinking. Thinking through Buddhist culture means that we 'anthropologize' western science and knowledge, thus showing how exotic the other's constitution of reality is. We need to emphasize those western domains most taken for granted and considered to be universal and make them objects of our critical reflection. Anthropology of science is basically a feeding of methodological doubt. As an anthropologist of knowledge I expose my own habits, ideas, concepts, and values to those of the other (i.e. Tibetan Buddhist) culture. In order to understand alien concepts, one has to entertain doubts about the absolute validity of those fostered in our own culture.
