Chapter 1: The Proposition¶

[PLANNED] This chapter has not yet been written; what follows is a skeleton. Items may be added or removed, and the order may change.

The foundation, laid once: three definitions, the theorem in three strengths, the scope clause, and the two readings of "self-contradictory" pulled apart.

• D1, three senses of existence: quantificational (E1), conventional (E2), real (E3) — the criteria for E3 taken from the opponents themselves: surviving analysis, and generating cognition toward an object.
• D2, entity with intrinsic nature: not dependent on another, not subject to conditions, not produced (MMK 15).
• D3, scope: only claims asserting at least one x with E3(x) and D2(x); ordinary and scientific discourse untouched.
• T in three strengths: semantic contradiction (needs premise P); pragmatic self-defeat (the Vigrahavyāvartanī level); exhaustive reductio (the actual practice of the twenty-seven chapters).
• The demotion clause: whichever strength survives, the outcome is a positive result.