SCHOOLS OF INDIAN PHILOSOPHY

25th June, 2021

Prelims

Introduction

Indian Philosophy (or, in Sanskrit, Darshanas), refers to any of several traditions of

philosophical thought that originated in the Indian subcontinent, including Hindu
philosophy, Buddhist philosophy, and Jain philosophy (see below for brief introductions to
these schools). It is considered by Indian thinkers to be a practical discipline, and its goal
should always be to improve human life.

Orthodox (Hindu) Schools

The main Hindu orthodox (astika) schools of Indian philosophy are those codified during the
medieval period of Brahmanic-Sanskritic scholasticism, and they take the
ancient Vedas (the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism) as their source and scriptural authority:

Samkhya:
Samkhya is
the oldest of the orthodox philosophical systems, and it postulates that
everything in reality stems from purusha (self or soul or mind) and prakriti (matter,
creative agency, energy). It is a dualist philosophy, although between the self and matter
rather than between mind and body as in the Western dualist tradition, and liberation
occurs with the realization that the soul and the dispositions of matter (steadiness,
activity and dullness) are different.

Yoga:

The Yoga school, as expounded by Patanjali in his 2nd Century B.C. Yoga Sutras, accepts
the Samkhya psychology and metaphysics, but is more theistic, with the addition of a
 divine entity to Samkhya's twenty-five elements of reality. The relatively brief Yoga
Sutras are divided into eight ashtanga (limbs), reminiscent of Buddhism's Noble
Eightfold Path, the goal being to quiet one's mind and achieve kaivalya (solitariness or
detachment).

Nyaya:

The Nyaya school is based on the Nyaya Sutras, written by Aksapada Gautama in the
2nd Century B.C. Its methodology is based on a system of logic that has subsequently
been adopted by the majority of the Indian schools, in much the same way
as Aristotelian logic has influenced Western philosophy. Its followers believe
that obtaining valid knowledge (the four sources of which are perception, inference,
comparison and testimony) is the only way to gain release from suffering. Nyaya
developed several criteria by which the knowledge thus obtained was to be
considered valid or invalid (equivalent in some ways to Western analytic philosophy).

Vaisheshika:

school was founded by Kanada in the 6th Century B.C., and it
The Vaisheshika
is atomist and pluralist in nature. The basis of the school's philosophy is that all objects
in the physical universe are reducible to a finite number of atoms, and Brahman is
regarded as the fundamental force that causes consciousness in these atoms. The
Vaisheshika and Nyaya schools eventually merged because of their closely related
metaphysical theories (although Vaisheshika only
accepted perception and inference as sources of valid knowledge).

Purva Mimamsa:
The main objective
of the Purva Mimamsa school is to interpret and establish the
authority of the Vedas. It requires unquestionable faith in the Vedas and the regular
performance of the Vedic fire-sacrifices to sustain all the activity of the universe.
Although in general the Mimamsa accept the logical and philosophical teachings of the
other schools, they insist that salvation can only be attained by acting in accordance with
the prescriptions of the Vedas. The school later shifted its views and began to teach the
doctrines of Brahman and freedom, allowing for the release or escape of the soul from
its constraints through enlightened activity.
 

Vedanta:
The Vedanta, or Uttara Mimamsa, school concentrates on the philosophical teachings of
the Upanishads (mystic or spiritual contemplations within the Vedas), rather than
the Brahmanas (instructions for ritual and sacrifice). The Vedanta focus on meditation,
self-discipline and spiritual connectivity, more than traditional ritualism. Due to the
rather cryptic and poetic nature of the Vedanta sutras, the school separated into six sub-
schools, each interpreting the texts in its own way and producing its own series of sub-
commentaries: Advaita (the best-known, which holds that the soul and Brahman are one
and the same), Visishtadvaita (which teaches that the Supreme Being has a definite
form, name - Vishnu - and attributes), Dvaita (which espouses a belief in three separate
realities: Vishnu, and eternal soul and matter), Dvaitadvaita (which holds that Brahman
exists independently, while soul and matter are dependent), Shuddhadvaita (which
believes that Krishna is the absolute form of Brahman) and Acintya Bheda
Abheda (which combines monism and dualism by stating that the soul is both distinct
and non-distinct from Krishna, or God).
Heterodox (Non-Hindu) Schools

The main heterodox (nastika) schools, which do not accept the authority of the Vedas, include:

Carvaka:
Also known
as Lokayata, Carvaka is a materialistic, skeptical and atheistic school of
thought. Its founder was Carvaka, author of the Barhaspatya Sutras in the final
centuries B.C., although the original texts have been lost and our understanding of them
is based largely on criticism of the ideas by other schools. As early as the 5th
Century, Saddaniti and Buddhaghosa connected the Lokayatas with the Vitandas (or
Sophists), and the term Carvaka was first recorded in the 7th Century by the
philosopher Purandara, and in the 8th Century by Kamalasila and Haribhadra. As a
vital philosophical school, Carvaka appears to have died out some time in the 15th
Century.

Buddhist philosophy:

Buddhism is a non-theistic system of beliefs based on the teachings of Siddhartha

Gautama, an Indian prince later known as the Buddha, in the 5th Century B.C. The
question of God is largely irrelevant in Buddhism, and it is mainly founded on
the rejection of certain orthodox Hindu philosophical concepts (although it does share
some philosophical views with Hinduism, such as belief in karma). Buddhism advocates
a Noble Eightfold Path to end suffering, and its philosophical principles are known as
the Four Noble Truths (the Nature of Suffering, the Origin of Suffering, the Cessation of
Suffering, and the Path Leading to the Cessation of Suffering). Buddhist philosophy deals
extensively with problems in metaphysics, phenomenology, ethics and epistemology.
 

Jain philosophy:
The central tenets
of Jain philosophy were established by Mahavira in the 6th
Century B.C., although Jainism as a religion is much older. A basic principle
is anekantavada, the idea that reality is perceived differently from different points of
view, and that no single point of view is completely true (similar to the Western
philosophical doctrine of Subjectivism). According to Jainism, only Kevalis, those who
have infinite knowledge, can know the true answer, and that all others would only know
a part of the answer. It stresses spiritual independence and the equality of all life,
with particular emphasis on non-violence, and posits self-control as vital for attaining
the realization of the soul's true nature. Jain belief emphasizes the immediate
consequences of one's behavior.

Indian Political Philosophy:

The Arthashastra, attributed
to the Mauryan minister Chanakya in the 4th Century B.C.,
is one of the earliest Indian texts devoted to political philosophy, and it discusses ideas
of statecraft and economic policy. During the Indian struggle for independence in the
early 20th Century, Mahatma Gandhi popularized the philosophies of ahimsa (non-
violence) and satyagraha (non-violent resistance), which were influenced by the
teachings of the Hindu Bhagavad Gita, as well as Jesus, Tolstoy, Thoreau and Ruskin.
 

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