Classical Indian philosophy: a reader
No TL;DR found
Abstract
Delivering on its title, Classical Indian Philosophy: A Reader provides a collection of translated selections from classical, Sanskritic Indian philosophical schools, including the Cārvāka, Buddhist (Yogācāra and Mādhyamaka), Jain, Nyāya, Vaiśe _ sika, Sā _ mkhya, Yoga, Pūrva-Mīmā _ msā and Vedānta (Advaita, Viśi _ s _ tādvaita and Dvaita) traditions. The volume offers a short introduction that orients the reader to shared features of classical Indian schools while each chapter prefaces a source text (or texts) from one of the aforementioned traditions, including brief orientating remarks on ontology, epistemology and soteriology. Sarma’s presentation emphasises the interconnectedness between ontological, epistemological and soteriological commitments in the functioning of each philosophical system. He draws, for example, repeated attention to the divide between realists, who argue that objects of perception exist independent of mind, and idealists, who argue that objects of perception do not exist independent of mind. This type of thematic analysis highlights foundational questions that are elemental to any worldview, including what are reliable sources of knowledge; what, ultimately, exists and what is the highest good? By underscoring such issues, Sarma provides a context for not only understanding the sophisticated ways classical Indian thinkers grappled with ‘big picture’ questions but also draws the reader into a maieutic process that sheds light on one’s own basic presuppositions about knowledge, reality and self. Sarma sees the book as a participant in the longstanding tradition of Indian philosophical doxographies (or compendiums of philosophical views). As an adherent of the Dvaita (or Mādhva) school of Vedānta, Sarma presents the volume as a contemporary doxography from the point of view of that tradition. This is a refreshing self-disclosure; however, it also signals one of the book’s limitations. By following a doxographical style the volume does not problematise important categories in Indian philosophy nor does it provide a basic historical map of key developments. It also neglects to signal nuanced discussion from contemporary scholarship, particularly in relation to areas of dispute or where there are varying interpretations. Rather, the book presents source texts through an explanatory model that concurs with an essentially medieval Vedāntic doxographical reading of discrete classical schools. The volume does provide a fruitful exploration of key philosophical ideas in classical Indian philosophy – and, in that way, admirably succeeds in its stated objective. Its minimal introductory material will, however, leave independent readers new to the terrain in the dark about many basic aspects of the development of Indian philosophical– soteriological traditions. Consistent embedding of Sanskrit terminology is also likely to be obscuring to beginners while diacritical errors unfortunately hinder the presentation. A strong advantage of the volume is that it brings together an important collection of classical source texts under one cover that can be usefully employed in a university course on Indian philosophy. It is, indeed, in this pedagogical context that the book was developed by Sarma. Utilised in this manner the volume provides an edifying engagement with the rich conceptual resources of classical Indian philosophical ideas and methods of argumentation.