Indian philosophy - Vedic, Upanishadic, Classical

Indian philosophy

Table of Contents

Introduction
General considerations
- Significance of Indian philosophies in the history of philosophy
- General characteristics of Indian philosophy
  - Common concerns
  - Forms of argument and presentation
- Roles of sacred texts, mythology, and theism
- A general history of development and cultural background
  - The prelogical period
  - The logical period
  - The ultralogical period
Historical development of Indian philosophy
- Presystematic philosophy
  - Shruti and the nature of authority
  - Development of the notion of transmigration
  - Origin of the concept of brahman and atman
  - The principles underlying macrocosm and microcosm
- Early Buddhist developments
  - Background
  - The Four Noble Truths and the nature of suffering
  - The path of liberation: methods of the Eightfold Path
  - The concepts of anatta and nibbana
- The philosophical portions of the Mahabharata
  - “Mokshadharma”
    - Proto-Samkhyan texts
    - Non-Samkhyan texts
    - Early theories of kingship and state
  - The Bhagavadgita
- Doctrines and ideas of the Buddhist Tipitaka
- Early system building
  - The history of the sutra style
  - The Purva-mimamsa-sutras and Shabara’s commentary
  - The Vedanta-sutras
    - Relation to the Mimamsa-sutras
    - Contents and organization of the four books
    - Variations in views
  - The Samkhya-karikas
    - Relation to orthodoxy
    - The nature of the self (purusha)
    - The nature, origin, and structure of the world (prakriti)
    - The concept of the three qualities (gunas)
    - Epistemology
    - Ethics
  - The Yoga-sutras
    - Relation to Samkhya
    - God, self, and body
    - Theories and techniques of self-control and meditation
  - The Vaisheshika-sutras
    - Organization and contents
    - Structure of the world
    - Naturalism
    - Epistemology
    - Ethics
  - The Nyaya-sutras
    - Content and organization
    - Epistemology
    - Theory of causation and metaphysics
    - The syllogism and its predecessors
    - Other characteristic philosophic matters
  - The beginnings of Mahayana Buddhist philosophy
    - Contributions of the Mahasangikas
    - Contributions of the Sarvastivadins
    - Contributions of the Sautrantikas
  - The worldview of the Arthashastra
    - Theories of kingship and statecraft
    - Concepts of the public good
    - Relations between states
    - The formation and implementation of policy
  - Fragments from the Ajivikas and the Charvakas
    - The Ajivikas
    - The Charvakas
- Further developments of the system
  - Developments in Mahayana
    - Nagarjuna and Shunyavada
    - Contributions of Vasubandhu and Asanga
    - Contributions of Dignaga and Dharmakirti
  - Purva-Mimamsa: the Bhatta and Prabhakara schools
    - Principal texts and relation to Shabara
    - Metaphysics and epistemology
    - Ethics
    - Hermeneutics and semantics
    - Religious consequences
  - The linguistic philosophies: Bhartrihari and Mandana-Mishra
  - Nyaya-Vaisheshika
    - The old school
    - The new school
  - Samkhya and Yoga
    - Texts and commentaries until Vachaspati and the “Samkhya-sutras”
    - Metaphysics and epistemology
    - Ethics
    - Raja Yoga and Hatha Yoga
    - Religious consequences
  - Vedanta
    - Fragments from the Mandukya-karika until Shankara
    - Varieties of Vedanta schools
    - The concepts of nondualism
    - Shankara’s theory of error and religious and ethical concerns
    - Concepts of bhedabheda
    - Ramanuja
    - Madhva
    - Nimbarka
    - Vallabha
    - Chaitanya
  - Vaishnava schools
  - Shaivite schools
    - Shaiva-siddhanta
    - Kashmiri Shaivism
- Jain philosophy
- Mughal philosophy
- 19th- and 20th-century philosophy in India and Pakistan

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All “orthodox” philosophies can trace their basic principles back to some statement or other in the Vedas, the texts that are generally awarded the status of scripture in Hinduism but not in Buddhism or Jainism. The Vedanta schools, especially, had an affiliation with the authority of shruti (literally “that which is heard”; texts that are taken to be revealed), and the school of Mimamsa concerned itself chiefly with the questions of interpreting the sacred texts. The Hindu tradition regards the Vedas as being apaurusheya—i.e., not composed by any person. Sayana, a famous Vedic commentator, said that this means an absence ...(100 of 27044 words)

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