Peter Adamson and Jonardon Ganeri present a lively introduction to one of the world's richest intellectual traditions: the philosophy of classical India. They begin with the earliest extant literature, the Vedas, and the explanatory works that these inspired, known as Upaniṣads. They also discuss other famous texts of classical Vedic culture, especially the Mahābhārata and its most notable section, the Bhagavad-Gīta, alongside the rise of Buddhism and Jainism. In this opening section, Adamson and Ganeri emphasize the way that philosophy was practiced as a form of life in search of liberation from suffering.
Next, the pair move on to the explosion of philosophical speculation devoted to foundational texts called 'sutras,' discussing such traditions as the logical and epistemological Nydaya school, the monism of Advaita Vedānta, and the spiritual discipline of Yoga.
In the final section of the book, they chart further developments within Buddhism, highlighting Nagārjuna's radical critique of 'non-dependent' concepts and the no-self philosophy of mind found in authors like Dignāga, and within Jainism, focusing especially on its 'standpoint' epistemology. Unlike other introductions that cover the main schools and positions in classical Indian philosophy, Adamson and Ganeri's lively guide also pays attention to philosophical themes such as non-violence, political authority, and the status of women, while considering textual traditions typically left out of overviews of Indian thought, like the Cārvāka school, Tantra, and aesthetic theory as well.
Adamson and Ganeri conclude by focusing on the much-debated question of whether Indian philosophy may have influenced ancient Greek philosophy and, from there, evaluate the impact that this area of philosophy had on later Western thought.
ISBN-13: 9780198851769
Media Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication Date: 06-01-2020
Pages: 432
Product Dimensions: 6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.60(d)
Series: History of Philosophy
Peter Adamson received his BA from Williams College and PhD in Philosophy from the University of Notre Dame. He worked at King's College London from 2000 until 2012. He subsequently moved to the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munchen, where he is Professor of Late Ancient and Arabic Philosophy. He has published widely in ancient and medieval philosophy, and is the host of the History of Philosophy podcast.
Jonardon Ganeri is a Fellow of the British Academy. He is the author of Attention, Not Self (2017), The Self (2012), The Lost Age of Reason (2011), and The Concealed Art of the Soul (2007). Ganeri's work draws on a variety of philosophical traditions to construct new positions in the philosophy of mind, metaphysics, and epistemology. He became the first philosopher to win the Infosys Prize in the Humanities in 2015.
Table of Contents
Origins1. Begin at the End: Introduction to Indian Philosophy2. Scriptures, Schools, and Systems: A Historical Overview3. Kingdom for a Horse: India in the Vedic Period4. Hide and Seek: The Upaniṣads5. Indra's Search: The Self in the Upaniṣads6. You Are What You Do: Karma in the Upaniṣads7. Case Worker: Pāṇini's Grammar8. Suffering and Smiling: The Buddha9. Crossover Appeal: The Nature of the Buddha's Teaching10. Carry a Big Stick: Ancient Indian Political Thought11. Better Half: Women in Ancient India12. Grand Illusion: Dharma and Deception in the Mahābhārata13. World on a String: The Bhagavad-gīt摲. Mostly Harmless: Non-ViolenceThe Age of the Sūtra15. A Tangled Web: The Age of the Sūtra16. When in Doubt: The Rise of Skepticism17. Master of Ceremonies: Jaimini's Mīmāṃsā-sūtra18. Innocent Until Proven Guilty: Mīmāṃsā on Knowledge and Language19. Source Code: Bādarāyaṇa's Vedānta-sūtra20. No Two Ways About It: Śaṅkara and Advaita Vedānta21. Communication Breakdown: Bhartṛhari on Language22. The Theory of Evolution: īśvarakṛṣṇa's Sāṃkhya-kārikā23. Who Wants to Live Forever? Early āyurvedic Medicine24. Practice Makes Perfect: Patañjali's Yoga-sūtra25. Where There's Smoke There's Fire: Gautama's Nyāya-sūtra26. What You See Is What You Get: Nyāya on Perception27. Standard Deductions: Nyāya on Reasoning28. The Truth Shall Set You Free: Nyāya on the Mind29. Fine Grained Analysis: Kaṇāda's Vaiśeṣika-sūtra30. The Whole Story: Vaiśeṣika on Complexity and Causation31. A Day in the Life: Theories of Time32. The Wolf's Footprint: Indian Naturalism33. Mind out of Matter: Materialist Theories of the SelfBuddhists and Jainas34. We Beg to Differ: The Buddhists and Jainas35. It All Depends: Nāgārjuna on Emptiness36. Motion Denied: Nāgārjuna on Change37. No Four Ways About It: Nāgārjuna's Tetralemma38. Taking Perspective: The Jaina Theory of Standpoints39. Well Qualified: The Jainas on Truth40. Change of Mind: Vasubandhu and Yogācāra Buddhism41. Who's Pulling Your Strings? Buddhaghosa on No-Self and Autonomy42. Under Construction: Dignāga on Perception and Language43. Follow the Evidence: Dignāga's Logic44. Doors of Perception: Dignāga on ConsciousnessBeyond Ancient India45. In Good Taste: The Rasa Aesthetic Theory46. Learn by Doing: Tantra47. Looking East: Indian Influence on Greek Thought48. The Buddha and I: Indian Influence on Islamic and European Thought49. What Happened Next: Indian Philosophy After Dignāga
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