LFU:online

An overview of the main philosophical streams in India, historical and thematic considerations, the relation between religion and philosophy in India. To consider more closely specific themes in metaphysics, theory of knowledge and logic in selected schools. Further aims involve ethics and mysticism in the Indian traditions. 

One can speak of nine main streams in Indian philosophy: the six so-called ‘orthodox’ Brahmanical/Hindu schools that are grouped together in pairs (Sāṅhya and Yoga, Vaiśṣka and Nyāa, Pūva Mīāṃāand Uttara Mīāṃāor Mīāṃāand Vedāta) and the three so-called heterodox streams: Materialism/Cāvāa/Lokāata, Buddhism and Jainismus (each with its own sub-divisions). The schools Śivism, Vaiṣṇvism und Śātism/Tantrism may also be counted among them. Their basic philosophical works were composed in brief, concentrated, aphoristic (sūtra) texts, composed sometime between the 2nd century BCE and 5th century CE. These streams of philosophy developed in an atmosphere of mutual infuence and debate leading to critical disciplines in the feld, e.g., of logic, epistemology, theory of language and metaphysics. With the exception of Indian materialism, the following characteristic feature of all the streams of Indian philosophy emerges: each school strives towards a knowledge of the essential nature of a human being with the aim of achieving a freedom from the bondage that is caused by an ignorance of our essential nature, an ignorance which is seen as the cause of human suffering.

In this course the following main themes will be sketched out: Content and Method in Indian philosophy, the development of the art of debate in India and its role in philosophy, the concept of the ‘self’, its bondage and freedom, the Karma and rebirth theory, epistemology and metaphysics, and selected views concerning the nature of the human being.

Lecture and discussion

oral

1. Bary, Theodore Wm. de (ed.), 1958: Sources of Indian Tradition. Vol. I. New York: Columbia University Press.

2. Dasgupta, Surendranath, 1922–1949: A History of Indian Philosophy. Cambridge: University Press, vols 1-4.

3. Frauwallner, Erich: 1953–1956: Geschichte der indischen Philosophie. Salzburg: Otto Müller Verlag (2 Bände).

1984: Erich Frauwallner: Nachgelassene Werke I: Aufsätze, Beiträge, Skizzen, Wien: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Tr. from the German by J. Soni: Erich Frauwallner‘s Posthumous Essays, Delhi: Aditya Prakashan, 1994.

4. Glasenapp, Helmut von, 1949: Die Philosophie der Inder. Stuttgart: Alfred Kröner Verlag.

5. Hiriyanna, M., 1932: Outlines of Indian Philosophy. London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd. 

 Hiriyanna, M., 1990: Vom Wesen der indischen Philosophie. Diederichs Gelbe Reihe DG85 Indien. M. Hiriyanna. Aus dem Englischen. übersetzt, mit einer Einleitung, zusätzl. Anmerkungen und einer Bibliogr. versehen von Karl-Heinz Golzio. München: Diederichs.

6.   Potter, Karl H., 1963: Presuppositions of India’s Philosophies. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall Inc.

7.   Ruben, Walter, 1954: Geschichte der indischen Philosophie. Berlin: Deutscher Verlag d. Wiss.

8.  Warder, A.K., 1971: Outline of Indian Philosophy. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. 9.  Zimmer, Heinrich, 1951: Philosophies of India. New York: Pantheon Books.

Lecture held in German and English