School of Arts & Humanities Department of Philosophy

 

                       

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6AANA016 Indian Philosophy: The Orthodox Schools Syllabus – Academic year 2014/5 Basic information  

Credits:  15  Module  Tutor:  Dr  Will  Rasmussen  Office:  PB/A702  Consultation  time:  TBA  Semester:  First  Lecture  time  and  venue:  http://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/philosophy/study/handbook/teaching/timetables.aspx  

 Module description (plus aims and objectives)  

 Assessment methods and deadlines

This module (along with 6AANB017 Indian Philosophy: The Heterodox Schools) is intended for students who wish to gain an introduction to Indian philosophy that looks carefully at the high standard of logic, epistemology, metaphysics and linguistics that grounded the various philosophical systems. The schools most fully examined are Mīmāṃsā, Sāṅkhya, Nyāya and Vaiśeṣika, however the positions and arguments of opposing schools, such as Buddhism and Carvāka (Materialists), are regularly adduced to enhance our study. The examination of these schools makes use of translations of the primary texts and focuses upon the vigorous debate over conceptual analysis and argumentative strategies by which the schools presented their philosophical positions, defended them against attacks by other schools, and mounted in turn their own attacks. Studying Indian philosophy in this way demonstrates both the similarities and the philosophically important differences in the way the main issues of philosophy have been addressed in India and in the West.

   

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Outline of lecture topics (plus suggested readings)  

• Formative  assessment:  1  x  2,000  word  essay,  due  on  Friday  December  20  2013    

• Summative  assessment:  1  x  4,000  word  essay.  For  the  deadline  see  http://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/philosophy/study/handbook/assessment/ug/coursework/deadlines.aspx  

 NB  Please  note  that  for  semester  I-­‐only  Study  Abroad  students,  assessment  requirements  may  vary.  In  particular,  the  summative  essay  may  be  required  to  be  submitted  by  the  end  of  term  (date  TBC).  

   

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Outline of lecture topics (plus suggested readings) – continued if necessary  

For an excellent survey of Indian Philosophy prior to (and during) the course, see Hiriyanna, M. (2000) Outlines of Indian Philosophy, Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass. The course book is Radhakrishnan, S. & Moore, C. A. (eds.) (1989) A Source Book in Indian Philosophy, Princeton, Princeton University Press, referred to below as SB*.  Week  One<DATE>:  << Sāṅkhya. Dualism and the Inherence of the Effect in its Cause>> Suggested  reading:    • Sāṇkhyakārikā 1-16 in SB*: 426-431 & http://www.ivantic.net/Moje_knjige/karika.pdf  • Bhagavadgītā II & XIII in SB*: 106-112 & 145-148  • Padārthadharmasaṃgraha 88 in SB*: 412-414    Week  Two<DATE>:  << Sāṅkhya. Process Materialism and the Existence of the Self  >>  Suggested  reading:    • Sāṃkhyakārikā (SK) 17-38 in SB*: 431-38 & http://www.ivantic.net/Moje_knjige/karika.pdf  • Sarvadarśanasaṃgraha (SDS) in SB*: 228-234  • Ślokavārtika: Ātmavāda (pp. 383 ff) at http://www.archive.org/details/slokavartika015341mbp    Week  Three  <DATE>:  << Sāṅkhya. The Law of Karma and the Soteriology of Nature without God  >>  Suggested  reading:    • Sāṃkhyakārikā 39-68 in SB*: 438-45 & http://www.ivantic.net/Moje_knjige/karika.pdf  • Nyāyakusumāñjalī in I.3-v.14 in SB*: 380-85  • Padārthadharmasaṃgraha 133-136 in SB*: 416-19    Week  Four<DATE>:  << Mīmāṃsā. Word and Object  >>  Suggested  reading:    • Mīmāṃsāsūtra I.i.1-VI.i.26 in SB*: 487-98  • Nyāyasūtra II.ii.13-69 in SB*: 368-70    Week  Five<DATE>:  << Mīmāṃsā. World without Beginning and Heaven without God  >>  Suggested  reading:    • Ślokavārtika 1.41-87 in SB*: 498-503  • Nyāyakusumāñjalī in SB*: 379-85  • Padārthadharmasaṃgraha 40 & 133-136 in SB*: 401-3 & 416-19    Week  Six<DATE>:  << Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika. The Metaphysics of Properties and Property-bearers >> Suggested  reading: • Tarkasaṃgraha 1-5 & 10-33 in the online pdf course handout or at http://openlibrary.org/books/OL7099454M/The_Tarkasangraha_of_Annam_Bhatta • Padārthadharmasaṃgraha 1-25, 41-45 & 138 in SB 397-400, 404-10 & 419 • Nyāyasūtra II.i.31-36 in SB*: 366-67.  Week  Seven<DATE>:  << Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika. The Ontology of Universals, Relations and Non-existence  >>  Suggested  reading:    • Tarkasaṃgraha 6-9 & 77-81 (See Week Six for the bibliographical reference.)  • Padārthadharmasaṃgraha 110 & 154-161 in SB*: 415-16 & 419-23    

   

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Week  Eight<DATE>:  << Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika. The Means of Knowledge, Causation and Perception  >>  Suggested  reading:    • Tarkasaṃgraha 34-43 (See Week Six for the bibliographical reference.)  • Nyāyasūtra I.i.3-7 (for the pramāṇas) & II.i.21-32 (for perception) in SB*: 359-66    Week  Nine<DATE>:  << Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika. Inference and Hypothetical Reasoning  >>  Suggested  reading:    • Tarkasaṃgraha 44-57 (See Week Six for the bibliographical reference.)  • Nyāyasūtra I.i.5 & 32-41, I.ii.1-9 & II.i.37-38 in SB*: 359, 362-64 & 367  • Tattvopaplavasiṃha in SB*: 236-46 (for a Materialist refutation of inference)    Week  Ten  <DATE>:  << Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika. Analogy, Testimony and Certainty  >>  Suggested  reading:    • Tarkasaṃgraha 58-76 (See Week Six for the bibliographical reference.)  • Nyāyasūtra II.i.44-68 & II.ii.59-69 in SB*: 368-70      

   

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Suggested essay questions

This course is designed to encourage you to pursue what really interests you in the light of your study of primary sources in Indian philosophy, and to think for yourself. So try to focus upon the primary texts and commentaries, and exhibit your own critical assessment of the issue, stimulated by your wider reading of secondary sources. Also, feel free to augment your examination of the topic by drawing upon any relevant Western philosophy that you have studied. Here are some suggestions, but the instructor welcomes you to meet or email him to discuss your own choice of title and essay structure.

• How cogent is the Sāṅkhyan dualism of puruṣa (self) and prakṛti (nature)?

• Assess Sāṅkhya’s causal theory of the ‘the existence of the effect’ (satkārya) in its cause, especially against Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika’s objections (Lectures I & VII).

• Assess Sāṅkhya’s arguments for the existence and nature of the self.

• Is Sāṅkhya’s soteriology for the liberation of the self consistent with its dualistic ontology?

• How coherent is the Sāṅkhyan doctrine of the teleological evolution of an insensate universe, without God, for the liberation of the self? (Lectures III & V)

• Assess Sāṅkhya’s and Mīmāṃsā’s arguments for the law of karma, and discuss whether the law implies or refutes the existence of God. (Lectures III & V)

• Assess Mīmāṃsā’s and Nyāya’s arguments for their theories about the semantic relation between words and their objects. (Lectures IV & X)

• What exactly is Mīmāṃsā’s theory of the intrinsic validity (svataḥ pramāṇya) of cognitions claiming to prove, and does it prove this?

• Assess Mīmāṃsā’s arguments for the eternality of the word and the authority of the Vedas.

• How convincing is Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika’s analysis of reality as an ontology of seven categories of things that exist (padārthas)?

• Does Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika succeed in proving that wholes exist as ‘new’ entities distinct from their parts?

• Assess arguments for and against Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika’s theory of the reality of universals (sāmānya).

• Is Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika’s theory of the relation of inherence (samavāya), viz. identity-in-difference, sufficient to vindicate Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika’s pluralistic ontology?

• Does Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika’s account of perception as a valid means of knowledge (pramāṇa) succeed in establishing its direct realism?

• Assess the philosophically important similarities and differences between the Aristotelian syllogism and Nyāya’s ‘inference for another’ (parārthānumāna).

• Does Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika’s theory of valid inference (anumāna) and the invariable concomitance/pervasion of properties solve the problem of induction?

• Are the Materialist (Carvāka) School correct in maintaining that perception is the only valid means of knowledge (pramāṇa)?

• Does Nyāya succeed in satisfactorily establishing how we ascertain epistemic certainty, i.e. the knowledge that we know?

   

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Suggested additional readings

 

   

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