Hindu philosophy

Hindu philosophy or Vedic philosophy is the set of Indian philosophical systems that developed in tandem with the religion of Hinduism during the iron and classical ages of India. In Indian tradition, the word used for philosophy is Darshana (Sanskrit: दर्शन; meaning: "viewpoint or perspective"), from the Sanskrit root 'दृश' (drish) meaning 'to see, to experience'.[1]

The schools of thought or Darshanas within Hindu philosophy largely equate to the six ancient orthodox schools: the āstika (Sanskrit : आस्तिक) schools, defined by their acceptance of the Vedas, the oldest collection of Sanskrit texts, as an authoritative source of knowledge.[2][note 1][note 2] Of these six, Samkhya (सांख्य) is the earliest school of dualism; Yoga (योग) combines the metaphysics of Samkhya with meditation and breath techniques; Nyaya (न्याय) is a school of logic emphasising direct realism; Vaisheshika (वैषेशिक) is an offshoot of Nyaya concerned with atomism and naturalism; Mimamsa (मीमांसा) is a school justifying ritual, faith, and religious obligations; and Vedanta (वेदान्त) contains various traditions that mostly embrace nondualism.[5][6][7][8][9]

Indian philosophy during the ancient and medieval periods also yielded philosophical systems that share concepts with the āstika traditions but reject the Vedas. These have been called nāstika (heterodox or non-orthodox) philosophies,[6][2] and they include: Buddhism, Jainism, Charvaka, Ajivika, and others,[10] which are thus broadly classified under Indian but not Hindu philosophy. Western scholars have debated the relationship and differences within āstika philosophies and with the nāstika philosophies, starting with the writings of Indologists and Orientalists of the 18th and 19th centuries, based on limited availability of Indian literature and medieval doxographies.[6] The various sibling traditions included in Indian philosophies are diverse and are united by: shared history and concepts, textual resources, ontological and soteriological focus, and cosmology.[11][12] Some heterodox (nāstika) traditions such as Charvaka are often considered as distinct schools within Hindu philosophy because the word Hindu is an exonym historically used as a geographical and cultural identifier for people living in the Indian subcontinent.[13][14][15][16]

Hindu philosophy also includes several sub-schools of theistic philosophies that integrate ideas from two or more of the six orthodox philosophies. Examples of such schools include: Pāśupata Śaiva, Śaiva siddhānta, Pratyabhijña, Raseśvara and Vaiṣṇava.[7][8] Some sub-schools share Tantric ideas with those found in some Buddhist traditions,[17] which are nevertheless found in the Puranas and the Āgamas.[18][19][20] Each school of Hindu philosophy has extensive epistemological literature called Pramana,[21][22] as well as theories on metaphysics, axiology, and other topics.[23]

  1. ^ "Meaning of word Darshana". Archived from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference KK26 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ M Chadha (2015), The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Philosophy of Religion (Editor: Graham Oppy), Routledge, ISBN 978-1844658312, pages 127–128
  4. ^ Elisa Freschi (2012), Duty, Language and Exegesis in Prabhakara Mimamsa, BRILL, ISBN 978-9004222601, page 62
  5. ^ Grayling, A. C. (20 June 2019). The History of Philosophy. Penguin UK. p. 521-9. ISBN 978-0-241-98086-6.
  6. ^ a b c Andrew Nicholson (2013), Unifying Hinduism: Philosophy and Identity in Indian Intellectual History, Columbia University Press, ISBN 978-0231149877, pages 2–5
  7. ^ a b Klaus K. Klostermaier (1984), Mythologies and Philosophies of Salvation in the Theistic Traditions of India, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, ISBN 978-0889201583, pages 124–134, 164–173, 242–265
  8. ^ a b Flood 1996, pp. 132–136, 162–169, 231–232.
  9. ^ Teun Goudriaan and Sanjukta Gupta (1981), Hindu Tantric and Śākta Literature, A History of Indian Literature, Volume 2, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN 978-3447020916, pages 7–14
  10. ^ P Bilimoria (2000), Indian Philosophy (Editor: Roy Perrett), Routledge, ISBN 978-1135703226, page 88
  11. ^ Frazier, Jessica (2011). The Continuum companion to Hindu studies. London: Continuum. pp. 1–15. ISBN 978-0-8264-9966-0.
  12. ^ Carl Olson (2007), The Many Colors of Hinduism: A Thematic-historical Introduction, Rutgers University Press, ISBN 978-0813540689, pages 101-119
  13. ^ Pennington, Brian K. (2005). Was Hinduism Invented?: Britons, Indians, and the Colonial Construction of Religion. Oxford university press. pp. 111–118. ISBN 978-0-19-803729-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  14. ^ R Thomas (2014), Hindu Perspectives on Evolution: Darwin, Dharma, and Design. Sociology of Religion, Vol. 75, No. 1, pages 164–165, Quote: "some of the ancient Hindu traditions like Carvaka have a rich tradition of materialism, in general, other schools..."
  15. ^ KN Tiwari (1998), Classical Indian Ethical Thought, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120816077, page 67; Quote: "Of the three heterodox systems, the remaining one, the Cārvāka system, is a Hindu system.";
  16. ^ V.V. Raman (2012), Hinduism and Science: Some Reflections, Zygon – Journal of Religion and Science, 47(3): 549–574, Quote (page 557): "Aside from nontheistic schools like the Samkhya, there have also been explicitly atheistic schools in the Hindu tradition. One virulently anti-supernatural system is/was the so-called Carvaka school.", doi:10.1111/j.1467-9744.2012.01274.x
    Bill Cooke (2005), Dictionary of Atheism, Skepticism, and Humanism, ISBN 978-1591022992, page 84;
    For a general discussion of Cārvāka and other atheistic traditions within Hindu philosophy, see Jessica Frazier (2014), Hinduism in The Oxford Handbook of Atheism (Editors: Stephen Bullivant, Michael Ruse), Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0199644650, pages 367–378
  17. ^ Klaus K. Klostermaier (1984), Mythologies and Philosophies of Salvation in the Theistic Traditions of India, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, ISBN 978-0889201583, pages 219–223
  18. ^ Klaus K. Klostermaier (1984), Mythologies and Philosophies of Salvation in the Theistic Traditions of India, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, ISBN 978-0889201583, pages 28–35
  19. ^ Jayandra Soni (1990), Philosophical Anthropology in Śaiva Siddhānta, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, ISBN 978-8120806320, pages vii–xii
  20. ^ Hilko Schomerus and Humphrey Palme (2000), Śaiva Siddhānta: An Indian School of Mystical Thought, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, ISBN 978-8120815698, pages 13–19
  21. ^ Potter 1991, p. 172.
  22. ^ Guttorm Fløistad 1993, p. 137-154.
  23. ^ Karl H. Potter (1961), A Fresh Classification of India's Philosophical Systems Archived 14 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine, The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 21, No. 1, pages 25–32


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