Indian Philosophy If you wish to know about Indian Philosophy I recommend you begin by reading D.P. Chattopadhyayas What is living and what is dead in Indian Philosophy . This is a seminal book, and very informative. There are two main subjects in philosophy : ontology and epistemology. Ontology is the study of existence. In other words, the questions asked in ontology are, does God exist, does the Universe exist ( or is it Maya, an illusion), does the soul exist, do ghosts, fairies and witches exist, do unicorns exist, etc.In other words, what is really real, and what is only apparently real ? Epistemology is the study of the means of acquiring true knowledge. In Indian philosophy it is based on the pramanas, or means of acquiring true knowledge. There are several pramanas, e.g. pratyaksha pramana or knowledge derived from our 5 senses, anuman pramana or knowledge derived by inference e.g. where there is smoke there is fire. We may not see the fire, but infer of its existence by the smoke. There is shabda pramana, which is knowledge derived by an opinion of an expert, e.g. a doctor or physicist. In Nyaya philosophy, which says that nothing is acceptable unless it is in accordance with reason and experience ( which is precisely the scientific approach ), the pradhan pramana or principal means of acquiring true knowledge is pratyaksha pramana. For example, if we ask how do we know that this tree in front of me exists, the answer is : because we can see it with our eyes, it is pratyaksha. But much of our knowledge is also derived from anuman or inference. For example, Rutherford propounded his theory of the atom consisting of a central nucleus ( of protons,neutrons,etc) and electrons orbiting it ( like the planets orbiting the sun ) by inferring it from the scattering of alpha rays ( which are helium ions), although he never saw ( and we still cannot see ) an atom, as it is too small. The existence of black holes has also been established by inference or anuman, although no one has actually seen a black hole, because its density is so great that light cannot escape from it, but we infer its existence from the movement of other neighbouring heavenly bodies which proves that there is a heavenly body in the neighbourhood which, though not visible, is excercising its gravitational pull so as to make the visible heavenly body move in the manner it does. Shabda pramana is the knowledge we acquire from the statement of an expert. For example, we accept the truth of Einsteins equation, e=mc2, because Einstein is an eminent physicist, although we ourselves may not be able to understand how he reached to that equation. We accept the diagnosis of our medical doctor because of his reputation.
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 03:16:25 +0000
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