Philosophy

Well, what do you think philosophy is?

It's too abstract. It's also controversial.
Philosophy" derives from the Greek for "love of wisdom", but
what's that?
Socrates defined a philosopher as a seeker after wisdom
In the Western Modern Philosophy Kant outlined the
problems of philosopher thus:
1. What can I know?
2. What I ought to do?
3. What may I hope?
Thus the subject matter of philosophy is all-comprehensive
Hoernel holds that to philosophy is to seek an attitude
towards the universe as a whole.
Thus philosophy is both an intellectual pursuit and an attitude
to the reality as a whole
 As a rational being man can consider how best he
can live.
We naturally ask questions: What is life?
What is its value and destiny?
What is the proper place of man in the democracy
of things?
When we ponder over all these questions we seek
the help of Philosophy.
It is common that each person bears a
philosophical system in his thought,
because it is absurd to think of a rational being without
philosophical outlook.
 According to Perry 'Philosophy is neither accidental
nor supernatural but inevitable and normal .
'Philosophy' is an active theory, a conclusive way to
conduct our life.
The root of philosophy is the reflection upon life and
the world.
philosophy springs directly from man's life and its
needs.
True philosophy is nothing but a general theory of human
life and its environment.
 Philosophy springs directly from man's life and its
needs.
It endeavors to reach a conception of the entire
universe with all its elements and aspects and their
interrelations to one another.
Philosophy tries to understand the universe in
relation to man.
It seeks to give a rational conception of the reality
as a whole,
which satisfies man's deepest intellectual, moral,
aesthetic and religious aspirations.
 Philosophy means Love of knowledge.
It tries to know things that immediately and remotely
concern man
What is the real nature of man?
What is the end of this life?
What is the nature of this world?
Is there any creator of this world?
How should man live in the light of his knowledge of himself, the
world and God?
Philosophy deals with problems of this nature.
Thus philosophy aims at
The knowledge of truth (the vision of truth)
 Main branches
Metaphysics
Which discusses the general problems regarding
reality man, nature and God
Epistemology
Which enquires into the nature of human knowledge
(as to how it develops and how far it is able to grasp reality)
Logic
Which discusses the laws of valid reasoning
Ethics
Which investigates the problems of morality
Aesthetics
Which deals with the problem of beauty
 Philosophy

Philosophy

Metaphysics Epistemology Axiology

What is Reality? What is Knowledge? is the study of value

General Special

Ethics Aesthetics
is the study of values and customs Deals with beauty

Logic
is the study of the principles

Truth Reasoning
 Indian philosophy discusses problems of metaphysics
ethics, logic and epistemology
but it does not discuss them separately
Every problem is discusses from all possible
approaches
synthetic outlook of Indian Philosophy
A philosopher had first to state the view of his
opponents (prior view or Purvapaksa)
Then followed the refutation (Khandana)
The statement and the proof of the philosophers own
position (uttarapaksha or siddhant)
 The Schools of Indian Philosophy
Indian philosophy:
Orthodox (astika) & Heterodox (nasitka)
The first group known as sad-darsana
Mimamsa, Vedanta, Sankhya, Yoga, Nyaya &
Vaisesika
They accept the authority of Vedas
Heterodox : materialist like Carvakas, the
Buddhas and Jainas
Indian philosophy today is standing almost at a
crossroad
The contemporary Indian philosopher gives a
new vision
 Came out with a new vigour emphasizing that these
elements are not against the scientific temper of the
present-day world.
Some kind of an east-west-synthesis
interpretative and not creative
When is a philosophy just interpretation and when does it
becomes creative?
Is it that a creative philosophy never interprets or is it that
there cannot remain any originality in a work of
interpretation?
Example: Sankar (Vedanta sutra), Moore
They try to re-interpret some of the ancient ideas
form Upanishads
 some refreshingly new notions and rational
demonstrations
they are both interpretative and creative
Indian philosophy can be described as meditative
It arises as the result of a kind of meditation on the holy power of souls
and of nature
Indian philosophy is described as spiritual
it lays emphasis on values that super-natural and other-worldly
But this definition is not adequate
Because it gives the impression that Indian Philosophy has no concern
with this world value
 Contemporary Indian Philosophy should not be described
in this way
It emphasis what is spiritual value
But does not do so in a completely one-sided manner
They tries to reconcile the two
Spiritual awakening cannot take place in a void
For this physical nature is not to be rejected but perfected.
General character of Indian philosophy is meditative.
The word meditative is more comprehensive than the word
spiritual
It come to discover certain holy power of Nature and also a
capacity of self-transcendence within man himself
Tries to know more about him
 The process that he adopts is one of the meditative speculation
He meditates upon his experiences of these powers and makes
speculations about their nature
That is how philosophy takes its birth
So meditative speculation has been the method of the Indian
Philosophers throughout the history.
Contemporary Indian thinkers also have adopted
some method of meditative speculation
Ancient Indian Philosophy based on a tragic sense
of life
It believes that life is full of suffering
Aim of philosophy is to attain freedom from suffering
Contemporary Indian thinker speaks about the
possibility of an escape from it
gives to life a meaning and a purpose
 it is through pain and suffering that life gets a dignity and
human significance
They accept the reality of the world and also of the bodily aspect of
man
Ancient Indian thinkers think of a complete control of
the body, the sense and the mind
For contemporary Indian thinker these propensities
are not to be killed but perfected
The world is considered as the only field of action
The body as the temple of Divine
They consider themselves to be close to the empirical and
matter-of-fact attitude of the present times
 Philosophy in India is defined as Darsana or
Vision.
Philosophy is capable of giving a vision of reality
For ancient Indian philosopher suffering is out of
ignorance regarding the nature of reality
contemporary Indian philosopher believes that
philosophy is an attitude
A way of looking at things
Philosophical knowledge enables us to cultivate an
attitude that can adopt an entirely different
perspective from the one that we normally adopt.
 Even though lifes situation remain the same, the individual
who is able to cultivate such an attitude is not affected by
life-situations in the manner in which he used to be in the
past
Ex. When a child comes to know what a bank-note is, he
does not treat it like any other paper
Once philosophical understanding enables us to
realize that we are one with all, this separative
tendency change
Indian thinkers put the old wine in a very new bottle.
Contemporary Indian thinkers are still struggling with
the old problems
Concepts like karma, rebirth, immortality, salvation etc.
 Problems do not change and that they can be
viewed and reviewed from newer and newer
perspective
Salvation or sarvamukti or Divine Life are the
different names given to the goal of life
an attempt is made to assess the impact of these ideas
on actual life and experience
Some of the common issues:
Monish
Reality of the world
Integral nature of man
Dignity of manness
Reality of human freedom
Importance of intuitive knowledge, etc.
 All believe that the idea of life can be reached only
by transcending the finite world
being in the world is not a misfortunes as the ancient
Indian thinker believe
The apprehension of reality is possible only through
some intuitive knowledge
Contemporary thinkers believe that philosophy is
essentially tied up with life
Not to life of escape, but to this very life
He asserts that even after realizing moksa the work of the
individual is not over
He has to continue to be in the world, living in the midst of
fellow-men, helping them in making their lives healthier
and pure
No man can be saved unless the race is saved