The Buddha, Whitehead and spacing of (organisational) space: a reframing

Abstract

In this paper, I make a case for the Buddha’s moral philosophy, especially his philosophy of existence, in the study of organisational space vis-à-vis Western process thought such as that is proposed by English philosopher Alfred Whitehead. For this, alongside Western process thought, especially that of Whiteheadian, I examine the ‘spatial turn’ in organisational research and the processual understanding of (organisational) space in which the re-production of space in Southern organisations as well as employing ‘Sothern epistemologies’ continues to be scarce. I show how Whiteheadian process thought is inclined towards Western dualistic thinking—the noun/verb dichotomy—although it proposes a comprehensive systematic approach in understanding the processual nature of (organisational) space. Against this backdrop, I examine the Buddha’s nonsubstantialist epistemology, which avoids the two-valued system or dualistic thinking, and show, alongside such an epistemology, the way in which the Buddha’s philosophy of existence facilitates us to overcome the noun/verb dichotomy in the study of organisational space. In conclusion, I argue that the Buddha’s philosophy shows us how to capture and re-articulate the becoming of spatio-temporal moments in organisations without falling back on some conception of permanence or by being trapped by the noun/verb dichotomy which would lead to misinterpret and misrepresent ‘spacing of organisations’.