Discussion and Debate in Indian Philosophy
Issues in Vedānta, Mīmāṃsā and Nyāya
New Delhi: Indian Council of Philosophical Research, 2004.
Summary: The work documents the discussions and debate around some of the most vital issues relating to Mīmāṃsā, Vedānta and Nyāya in Indian Philosophy. Does Mīmāṃsā really believe in the doctrine of Karma as understood in the Indian tradition, or consider it as a pūrvapakṣa which has to be refuted in order to understand the nature of the Vedic Yajña? Did Vedānta really exist as an important School of Indian philosophy before Śaṇkara appeared on the scene, or is it a Post-Śaṇkara phenomenon which has been retrospectively superimposed on the history of Indian philosophy by those who have written on the subject? Is Nyāya ‘Realist’ as everyone seems to believe or ‘idealist’ in the way this term is understood in the Western tradition? What is Āhārya jñāna, and if it is really a jñāna what happens to jñāna or ‘knowledge’ as understood in the Indian Philosophical traditions?
These and many other issues are debated and discussed by outstanding traditional Pandits and modern scholars such as Paṭṭābhirāma Śastrī, Rāmānuja Tāṭṭācārya, Romellā Sūryaprakāśa Śāstrī, Dr. Prahalada Char, V. Venkatachalam, Fritz Staal, R. Balasubramanian, J. N. Mohanty, Sibajiban Bhattacharyya, and others whose names are well-known to the English-knowing ‘world’ of Indian philosophy.
Indian philosophy can never remain the same after one has read these discussions and debate on issues so central to Indian philosophy.