A Course in Indian Philosophy

by Anthony Kennedy Warder

The present volume appears to be the first general introduction, for English-reading students, to that which, in Indian tradition, corresponds to 'philosophy' in British and probably in most other English-speaking universities. It shows how Indian philosophers have posed such questions as whether we can be sure we 'know' anything, whether words 'mean' anything, whether it is possible to generalise from observed regularities in nature and whether there is anything in nature, or in 'reality', corresponding to our concept of a 'class'. It traces the sustained and rigorous analysis of such philosophical problems through many centuries, indicating in outline the interrelationships of ideas and 'schools' and development of the theory of knowledge, formal logic and other analytical investigations. The closely related development of science in India is also indicated.

"This does not imply that Indian philosophy is the same as 'Western' philosophy or part of it, which would make it redundant and uninteresting. It is interesting in that it discusses similar philosophical problems in different ways, as philosophers elsewhere have. But there is the problem of translation, obvious in most books on Indian tradition, especially if we compare any two of them. This Course is based only on original Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit sources translated by the author." (jacket)

This book shows how Indian philosophers have posed such questions as whether we can be sure we 'know' anything, whether words 'mean' anything, whether it is possible to generalise from observed regularities in nature and whether there is anything in nature corresponding to our concept of a 'class'. It races the sustained and rigorous analysis of such philosophical problems through many centuries, indicating in outline the interrelationships of ideas and 'schools' and development of the theory of knowledge, formal logic and other analytical investigations.

About the Author:

Dr. A.K. Warder taught Sanskrit and Indian Philosophy in for 35 years in the Universities of Edinburgh and Toronto. He is the author of 15 books and many articles on Indological topics and the editor of 7 Indian texts.