Knowledge and Liberation in Classical Indian Thought

by Ram-Prasad, Chakravarthi

• ISBN13: 9780333927472
• ISBN10: 0333927478
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-04-14
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Classical Indian schools of philosophy seek to attain a supreme end to existence--liberation from the cycle of lives. This book looks at four conceptions of liberation and the roles of analytic inquiry and philosophical knowledge in its attainment. The central motivation of Indian philosophy--the quest for the Highest Good--is situated in the analytic philosophical activity of key thinkers.

Author Biography

Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad is Lecturer in the Department of Religious Studies, Lancaster University

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Chronology of Sacred Texts and the Philosophers of each School	x
Introduction	1	(6)
Bhatta Mimamsa: Action, the Sacred Texts and the End of Action	7	(50)
The sacred text and its relation to reality	9	(6)
Mimamsa reality	15	(4)
The self and the unliberated state	19	(7)
The modest role of knowledge	26	(12)
Action and the attainment of liberation	38	(6)
The content of liberation	44	(13)
Nyaya: Suffering, Detachment and Peace	57	(52)
Self and world	60	(17)
Liberation	77	(16)
Philosophical inquiry and practice	93	(7)
The place of theism in Nyaya	100	(9)
Yogacara-Madhyamika: Conceptualisation, Insight and Pure Cognition	109	(53)
The nature of the unliberated life	112	(6)
The results of analysis: the denial of externality and the rejection of the self	118	(18)
Intellectual practice for the attainment of liberation	136	(6)
Liberation	142	(20)
Advaita Vedanta: Radical Misunderstanding and the De-individuation of Consciousness	162	(56)
The philosophical framework	163	(17)
The unliberated life	180	(8)
Liberation	188	(8)
The receptive attitude and the critical mind: approaches to liberation	196	(13)
Self-realisation and figurative liberation	209	(5)
God in Advaita: a concluding remark	214	(4)
Concluding Summary	218	(3)
Notes	221	(27)
Bibliography	248	(6)
Index	254