Indian philosophy : an introduction to Hindu and Buddhist thought / Richard King.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

King, Richard, 1966-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Philosophy, Indic.

Physical Description:

xvi, 263 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Washington, D. C. : Georgetown University Press, 1999.

Summary:

What is Indian Philosophy? Why has India been excluded from the history of philosophy? Richard King provides an introduction to the main schools of Hindu and Buddhist thought, emphasising the living history of interaction and debate between the various traditions. The book outlines the broad spectrum of Indian philosophical schools and questions prevailing assumptions about the 'mythical', ahistorical and 'theological' nature of Indian thought.

Central philosophical questions are addressed: what really exists; how do we know what we know; can we trust our perception of reality; what are we and where do we come from? Early chapters discuss the nature of philosophy in general, examining the shifting usage of the term throughout history. The author argues that a single definition or characterisation of the subject matter is impossible and that the histories of philosophy remain tied to an ethnocentric and colonial perspective so long as they ignore the possibility of philosophical thought 'East of the Suez'. This highlights the need for a post-colonial and global approach to philosophy.

Contents:

1 India and the History of Philosophy 1

Defining the Subject-Matter 1

Histories of Western Philosophy 8

Secular Reason and the Dichotomy of Tradition vs Modernity 12

Indian Materialism - A Counter-Example 16

2 Can Philosophy be Indian? 24

Is there 'Philosophy' in Ancient India? 24

Why consider 'Indian Philosophy'? 37

3 The Varieties of Hindu Philosophy 42

The Origins and Nature of Hindu Philosophy 42

Bhartrhari and the Philosophy of Linguistic Analysis (vyakarana) 46

The Varieties of Hindu Philosophy 50

The Prior Exegesis School (Purva Mimamsa) 52

The Later Exegesis (Uttara Mimamsa) or 'End of the Vedas' (Vedanta) School 53

The Particularist School (Vaisesika) 57

The School of Reasoning (Nyaya) 59

The School of Enumeration (Samkhya) 62

The Classical Yoga School 67

4 Buddhist Philosophy in India 75

Buddhism in India 75

The Doctrinal Foundations of Buddhist Philosophy 76

The Buddhist Philosophy of No-Abiding-Self (anatman) 78

Mainstream Buddhist Philosophy (Abhidharma) 84

Mahayana Buddhism in India 91

5 Ontology: What really exists? 105

Vaisesika: Classifying Reality 105

Reality as Process: The Abhidharma Response 115

Rejecting Ontology: The Mahayana Philosophy of Emptiness 119

6 Epistemology: How do we know what we know? 128

The Foundations of Knowledge (pramana) 128

Inference (anumana) and the Nyaya School 130

Emptiness and Nagarjuna's Critique of Pramana Theory 137

7 Perception: Do we see things as they are? 147

The Nature of Perception 147

Perception in Advaita Vedanta: Reconciling the Everyday World and Monism 153

The Image Theory of Perception (sakara-jnana-vada) 159

8 Consciousness and the Body: What are we? 166

The Dualism of the Samkhya School 166

The Samkhya Philosophy of Isvarakrsna 170

The Yoga System of Patanjali 189

9 Creation and Causality: Where do we come from? 198

Myth and History 198

Ancient Indian Cosmogonies 201

Creation and Causality in Buddhism 202

God and Causality in Nyaya-Vaisesika 207

Causal Theory in Samkhya and Yoga 208

The Early Vedanta of the Brahma Sutra 212

Sankara and the Philosophy of Non-Dualism (Advaita Vedanta) 213

Causal Theory in Advaita 217

Ramanuja and Non-Dualism of the Qualified (Visistadvaita Vedanta) 221

10 Philosophy in a Post-Colonial World 230

Postmodernism, Ethnocentricity and Western Philosophy 230

The Politics of Translation 236

Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Entering the Western Philosophical Arena 239.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 246-254) and index.

ISBN:

0878407561

OCLC:

41039930