Debates in Indian Philosophy

Debates in Indian Philosophy PDF Author: A. Raghuramaraju
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019908792X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 169

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Book Description
This volume traces the impact of colonialism and Western philosophy on the dialogical structure of Indian thought and highlights the general tendency in contemporary Indian philosophy to avoid direct dialogue as opposed to the rich and elaborate debates that formed the pivot of the classical Indian tradition. It defines three possible areas of debate: between Swami Vivekanand and Mahatama Gandhi; V.D. Savarkar and Mahatama Gandhi; and Sri Aurobindo and Krishna Chandra Bhattacharyya—on state and pre-modern society, religion and politics, and science and spiritualism respectively. This book will be of considerable interest not only to students and scholars of Indian philosophy and religious studies but to scholars of politics and sociology as well.

Debates in Indian Philosophy

Debates in Indian Philosophy PDF Author: A. Raghuramaraju
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019908792X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 169

Get Book Here

Book Description
This volume traces the impact of colonialism and Western philosophy on the dialogical structure of Indian thought and highlights the general tendency in contemporary Indian philosophy to avoid direct dialogue as opposed to the rich and elaborate debates that formed the pivot of the classical Indian tradition. It defines three possible areas of debate: between Swami Vivekanand and Mahatama Gandhi; V.D. Savarkar and Mahatama Gandhi; and Sri Aurobindo and Krishna Chandra Bhattacharyya—on state and pre-modern society, religion and politics, and science and spiritualism respectively. This book will be of considerable interest not only to students and scholars of Indian philosophy and religious studies but to scholars of politics and sociology as well.

Religious Debates in Indian Philosophy

Religious Debates in Indian Philosophy PDF Author: Dr. Ravi Prakash ‘Babloo’
Publisher: K.K. Publications
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Indian philosophy was more decisively established with the Upanishads, the first of which may have been written in the 7th century BC. Early Upanishads, which dominate the late ancient period of thought, were key to the emergence of several classical philosophies. In the Upanishads, views about Brahman and atman were proposed. Buddhism, now a major world religion, also appeared in the ancient period of Indian philosophy. The Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, lived during the 6th century BC. Religious, or spiritual, metaphysics, a field that currently receives little attention among philosophers in academia in the West, considers the question of the nature of a Supreme Being and its relation to the world. Indian Buddhism, Advaita Vedanta, and theistic Vedanta all have contributed to this debate. Within spiritual metaphysics, an insistence on spiritual monism is probably the most important consideration that Indian thought upholds, though with numerous variations: Much Buddhist philosophy promotes the idea of the interdependence of everything; theistic Vedanta finds no gap between the world and God; and Advaita Vedanta insists that everyone’s true self is nothing other than Brahman, the Absolute. This book presents information on some of the basic concepts of this subject. Contents: • Zoroastrianism • Judaism • Christianity • Islam • Tribal Religions of India • Phenomenology • Vedanta Philosophy • Maya: Nature and Arguments

Unifying Hinduism

Unifying Hinduism PDF Author: Andrew J. Nicholson
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231149875
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
Some postcolonial theorists argue that the idea of a single system of belief known as "Hinduism" is a creation of nineteenth-century British imperialists. Andrew J. Nicholson introduces another perspective: although a unified Hindu identity is not as ancient as some Hindus claim, it has its roots in innovations within South Asian philosophy from the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries. During this time, thinkers treated the philosophies of Vedanta, Samkhya, and Yoga, along with the worshippers of Visnu, Siva, and Sakti, as belonging to a single system of belief and practice. Instead of seeing such groups as separate and contradictory, they re-envisioned them as separate rivers leading to the ocean of Brahman, the ultimate reality. Drawing on the writings of philosophers from late medieval and early modern traditions, including Vijnanabhiksu, Madhava, and Madhusudana Sarasvati, Nicholson shows how influential thinkers portrayed Vedanta philosophy as the ultimate unifier of diverse belief systems. This project paved the way for the work of later Hindu reformers, such as Vivekananda, Radhakrishnan, and Gandhi, whose teachings promoted the notion that all world religions belong to a single spiritual unity. In his study, Nicholson also critiques the way in which Eurocentric concepts—like monism and dualism, idealism and realism, theism and atheism, and orthodoxy and heterodoxy—have come to dominate modern discourses on Indian philosophy.

Against a Hindu God

Against a Hindu God PDF Author: Parimal G. Patil
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231142226
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 421

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Book Description
Philosophical arguments for and against the existence of God have been crucial to Euro-American and South Asian philosophers for over a millennium. Critical to the history of philosophy in India, were the centuries-long arguments between Buddhist and Hindu philosophers about the existence of a God-like being called Isvara and the religious epistemology used to support them. By focusing on the work of Ratnakirti, one of the last great Buddhist philosophers of India, and his arguments against his Hindu opponents, Parimal G. Patil illuminates South Asian intellectual practices and the nature of philosophy during the final phase of Buddhism in India. Based at the famous university of Vikramasila, Ratnakirti brought the full range of Buddhist philosophical resources to bear on his critique of his Hindu opponents' cosmological/design argument. At stake in his critique was nothing less than the nature of inferential reasoning, the metaphysics of epistemology, and the relevance of philosophy to the practice of religion. In developing a proper comparative approach to the philosophy of religion, Patil transcends the disciplinary boundaries of religious studies, philosophy, and South Asian studies and applies the remarkable work of philosophers like Ratnakirti to contemporary issues in philosophy and religion.

Hindu and Buddhist Ideas in Dialogue

Hindu and Buddhist Ideas in Dialogue PDF Author: Ms Irina Kuznetsova
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
ISBN: 1409456625
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 446

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Book Description
The debates between various Buddhist and Hindu philosophical systems about the existence, definition and nature of self, occupy a central place in the history of Indian philosophy and religion. These debates concern various issues: what 'self' means, whether the self can be said to exist at all, arguments that can substantiate any position on this question, how the ordinary reality of individual persons can be explained, and the consequences of each position. At a time when comparable issues are at the forefront of contemporary Western philosophy, in both analytic and continental traditions (as well as in their interaction), these classical and medieval Indian debates widen and globalise such discussions. This book brings to a wider audience the sophisticated range of positions held by various systems of thought in classical India.

Contemporary Indian Philosophy

Contemporary Indian Philosophy PDF Author: Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Hindu philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 656

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Book Description


Indian Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction

Indian Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Sue Hamilton
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191540242
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 177

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Book Description
India has a long, rich, and diverse tradition of philosophical thought, spanning some two and a half millennia and encompassing several major religious traditions. This Very Short Introduction emphasizes the diversity of Indian thought, and is structured around six schools which have achieved classic status. Sue Hamilton explores how the traditions have attempted to understand the nature of reality in terms of an inner or spiritual quest, and introduces distinctively Indian concepts such as karma and rebirth. She also shows how Indian thinkers have understood issues of reality and knowledge — issues which are also an important part of the Western philosophical tradition. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Buddhists, Brahmins, and Belief

Buddhists, Brahmins, and Belief PDF Author: Daniel Anderson Arnold
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 9780231132817
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
In Buddhists, Brahmins, and Belief, Dan Arnold examines how the Brahmanical tradition of Purva Mimamsa and the writings of the seventh-century Buddhist Madhyamika philosopher Candrakirti challenged dominant Indian Buddhist views of epistemology. Arnold retrieves these two very different but equally important voices of philosophical dissent, showing them to have developed highly sophisticated and cogent critiques of influential Buddhist epistemologists such as Dignaga and Dharmakirti. His analysis--developed in conversation with modern Western philosophers like William Alston and J. L. Austin--offers an innovative reinterpretation of the Indian philosophical tradition, while suggesting that pre-modern Indian thinkers have much to contribute to contemporary philosophical debates. In logically distinct ways, Purva Mimamsa and Candrakirti's Madhyamaka opposed the influential Buddhist school of thought that emphasized the foundational character of perception. Arnold argues that Mimamsaka arguments concerning the "intrinsic validity" of the earliest Vedic scriptures are best understood as a critique of the tradition of Buddhist philosophy stemming from Dignaga. Though often dismissed as antithetical to "real philosophy," Mimamsaka thought has affinities with the reformed epistemology that has recently influenced contemporary philosophy of religion. Candrakirti's arguments, in contrast, amount to a principled refusal of epistemology. Arnold contends that Candrakirti marshals against Buddhist foundationalism an approach that resembles twentieth-century ordinary language philosophy--and does so by employing what are finally best understood as transcendental arguments. The conclusion that Candrakirti's arguments thus support a metaphysical claim represents a bold new understanding of Madhyamaka.

Rethinking Religion in India

Rethinking Religion in India PDF Author: Esther Bloch
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135182795
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
Critically assesses recent debates about the colonial construction of Hinduism. Written by experts in their field, the chapters present historical and empirical arguments as well as theoretical reflections on the topic, offering new insights into the nature of the construction of religion in India.

Doctrine and Argument in Indian Philosophy

Doctrine and Argument in Indian Philosophy PDF Author: Smart
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004624503
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
A revised and updated edition of Ninian Smart's well-known work, long out of print, this study provides a lucid and helpful introduction to the chief systems and debates found in Indian (Hindu, Buddhist, Jain etc.) traditions of philosophy. Part 1 discusses the metaphysical systems, Buddhist metaphysics, Jain metaphysics, materialism and exegesis, distinctionism and yoga, logic-atomism, non-dualism, qualified non-dualism, dualism and Śaivite doctrine, analysis of the religious factors in Indian metaphysics. Part 2 examines arguments for and against the existence of God, arguments about rebirth and the soul, epistemological questions, causation, and induction and inference.