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A Course in Indian Philosophy

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This is an older book (originally published in 1967) that deserves to be better known, and probably would be were it to be published once again by a Western publisher (it was originally published by the University of Toronto Press).

There are now many introductory books on Indian philosophy, but this book is unique in that it tries to take an historical approach to a subject that is usually treated thematically; not, admittedly, an easy task given the paucity of historical information available. But one of the advantages of this method is that it helps one avoid the all too familiar cliches of the 'six schools' approach to Indian philosophy. We learn that there were far more than six schools of either 'heterodox' or 'orthodox' thinking, and that moreover positions evolved and changed over time. Schools influenced each other and adopted positions across doctrinal lines. As well, in this book, logical and epistemological issues are moved to the forefront. The focus is on the problems of philosophy as understood in the academic and analytical sense (the author studied philosophy under A.J. Ayer).

The only limitations to this book are its scope and perhaps some of the leanings of its author. It is really only a history of Indian philosophy up to and including Dignaga. The great thinkers of the 'medieval' era, (about 600 to 1700 A.D.) including Dharmakirti, Kumarila, Udayana, and the school of Navya-Nyaya are summarily treated in the final three (of twenty-seven) chapters.

As well, it strikes me that Warder is somewhat unfair to the Nyaya school simply because they were philosophical opponents of the Buddhists for a time, as well as being theists (which is neverless an important point that needs mentioning). The Nyayaikas are the focus of a lot of present-day attention as their thinking seems amenable to current Anglo-American analytic philosophy. Warder apparently cannot forgive them for additonally being traditionalists and theists, which they certainly were.