Early Modern Indian Philosophy

What philosophical debates took place in early modern India, and what did it mean to lead a philosophical life at this time? This course explores philosophical arguments, changing concerns, and shared questions among philosophers active in India from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, reading them in their own words (in English translation). With major intellectual centers ranging from Banaras to Thanjavur, this period stands as an exceptionally rich time of philosophical writing.

Arguments are examined in areas including metaphysics, ontology, emotions, linguistics, reality, and existence, drawing on philosophers associated with Vedanta, Mimamsa (Vedic Hermeneutics), Jainism, Logic (Nyaya and Mantiq), and Linguistics, situated within their historical context.

This course examines the major philosophical debates that shaped early modern India between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. Through close reading of primary philosophical texts in English translation, students explore metaphysics, epistemology, ontology, language, emotion, reality, and existence across diverse philosophical traditions. The course situates these debates within their historical contexts while developing skills in philosophical interpretation, critical reasoning, and scholarly argumentation.

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Understand the different metaphysical and epistemological positions in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century India.
• Understand key philosophical concepts and terminology from the period.
• Apply metaphysical and epistemological ideas to philosophical research questions.
• Analyse differences between competing philosophical positions.
• Synthesise ideas from multiple philosophical traditions into a coherent line of philosophical inquiry.

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Engage in interdisciplinary philosophical discussions.
• Explain how metaphysics and epistemology developed in early modern India.
• Demonstrate creative and critical thinking while engaging with philosophical arguments.
• Investigate concepts relating to reality, knowledge, and existence.
• Evaluate philosophical arguments concerning metaphysics and epistemology.
• Develop original philosophical ideas grounded in textual evidence.
• Synthesise perspectives across philosophical traditions to present a well-reasoned philosophical argument through a research paper.

The course is based on selected primary and secondary readings, including works by:

• Jonardon Ganeri – The Oxford Handbook of Indian Philosophy.
• Ashok Aklujkar – History and Doxography of the Philosophical Schools.
• John Taber – Some Remarks on the Apparent Absence of a priori Reasoning in Indian Philosophy.
• Mark Siderits – Comparison or Confluence in Philosophy?
• Anand Vaidya – Absence and the A Priori: A Note on Taber's Argument.

Primary philosophical texts include selections from Madhusudana Sarasvati, Niścaldās, Nāgeśa Bhaṭṭa, Vimaladāsa, Shāh Walī Allāh, Muḥibb Allāh Ilāhābādī, Viśvanātha Cakravārtin, Harirāma Tarkavāgīśa, and Kavirāja Yati.