Concepts of Reason and Intuition (With Special Reference to Sri Aurobindo, K.C. Bhattacharyya and S. Radhakrishnan)

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This work is a systematic and critical study of two most important problems of philosophy — Reason and Intuition. The philosophical thought of the twentieth-century Indian thinkers articulates fresh ideas. Though they accept the metaphysical doctrines of Vedanta, one finds a good deal of originality in their world-views. The great thinkers are fully aware that unless they interpret and formulate the traditional truths in the modern framework of ideas, they would cease to inspire. There seems to be a distinct change in their views concerning man’s existence in the world.

The book embodies a fresh approach towards critical evaluation of some theories and gives valuable insights. It attempts to make relevant comparisons of the views of Indian thinkers with those of some of the eminent thinkers of the West.

In the detailed study of Sri Aurobindo, K.C. Bhattacharyya and 5. Radhakrishnan, the author shows, not only a profound grasp of the concepts of Reason and Intuition, but also the admirable understanding of other important metaphysical and religious problems.

This book cannot miss the sight of students of philosophy, researchers and scholars.

Dr. R.C. Sinha, Professor and former Head, Department of Philosophy, Patna University, is‘currently a fellow of the Department of Indian Council of Philosophical Research: He received PhD from the Banaras Hindu University in 1969 and entered into the teaching job in 1968 at the Post-Graduate Department of Indian Philosophy and Religion, College of Indology, Banaras Hindu University. Subsequently, he joined Patna University in 1970. He has been honoured by Loknayak Sammana (2005) and Vidwad Bhushana (2011). He is the author of Samkalina Bhartiya Chintak and Samaj Darshan evam Rajniti Darshan ki Rooprekha (1994). Dr. Sinha has edited Philosophical Deliberations (2005), essays in honour of Prof. D.M. Datta; Bhartiya Darshnik hintan (2007); and two volumes of Dimensions of Philosophy (2012). He is the chief editor of Darshanik Traimasik as well.

THE present book proposes to make a critical and systematic study of the two most important problems of philosophy, specially of Indian philosophy — "reason" and "intuition". These problems not only engaged the minds of the foremost Indian thinkers of the past, but they have also been given a fairly important attention by the great Indian thinkers of this. century. This book is an attempt to study the concepts of reason and intuition as they have been conceived and developed by the Indian philosophers of the twentieth century, specially the three philosophers — Sri Aurobindo, K.C. Bhattacharyya and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. Here, I make an attempt to do relevant comparisons of the views of Indian philosophers concerning reason and intuition with some of the eminent philosophers of the West, of the past as well as of the present.

Indian philosophers of this century have mainly expounded and developed the philosophy of the Vedanta in their own ways. Though they accept the metaphysical doctrines of the Vedanta, absolutistic as well as theistic, yet one finds a good deal of originality in their world views. There seems to be a distinct change in their views concerning man’s life in the world, the secular and spiritual problems of life, his aspiration and his destiny. One finds a good deal of originality and freshness in their approach to these problems. It can be clearly perceived in the philosophies of Sri Aurobindo, Bhattacharyya, Radhakrishnan, Tagore, S.M.Iqbal and J. Krishnamurti. Even where there is no basic difference in the metaphysics of the Indian philosophers of this century with those of the classical periods, one can see a significant difference in the application of the metaphysical or spiritual truths to the problems of life — temporal as well as non- temporal. It is this fact that gives the above-mentioned thinkers a place of importance and makes their study necessary and fruitful in the present situation.

The change that one perceives in their attitude and approach towards man’s life in the world, in their formulation of the dynamic ethical, religious and social values and the goal of human life and of history has been largely brought about by the tremendous advances in science and technology, and the emergence of new ideologies and the philosophies of life in the Western world. The great thinkers of this century saw it clearly that unless they interpreted and formulated the great truths of the Vedanta and the philosophy of life based on them in a language and the framework of ideas which could be appreciated and understood by the modern man, they would cease to inspire him and would simply adorn the pages of history. These thinkers seem to be convinced that man’s philosophy and life cannot follow separate courses. His philosophy cannot cut itself off from the mainstream of his life. Philosophy, according to them, is not something which concerns simply man’s intellectual life.

Philosophy involves the whole man, his entire personality and is deeply concerned with his individual as well as collective life. Its main purpose is to provide direction to man’s lite individually as well as collectively by revealing the real nature of his existence, of world-existence and of the ultimate reality.

‘It is these ideas concerning the nature and purpose of philosophy and the necessity of interpreting the perennial philosophy of life as propounded by the Vedanta in the light of the dynamism of modern life and the aspirations of the modern man that govern the twentieth-century Indian thinkers in the formulation and creation of their philosophies of life and systems. They have made it amply clear that the deeper truths of life as revealed by the ancient seers of India and propounded with great clarity and vigour by an unending galaxy of the great philosophers of India can still provide succour to the distracted modern man and guide the course of his individual and collective life. The present book, while focusing its attention mainly on the conceptions of Reason and Intuition in the twentieth-century Indian thought, also proposes to throw some light on the basic contributions of the great Indian thinkers of this century in the formulation of dynamic ethical and religious values, in their effort to reconcile the secular and the spiritual spheres of human life and in providing definite goals for man’s collective life and history. The book comprises of six chapters. The first or the introductory chapter presents, in brief, the concepts of reason and intuition as they were conceived and propounded by the seers of the Upanisads, the Mahayana Buddhism, the Vedanta and some of the philosophers of the West. It also gives a brief account of the role and importance of the concepts of reason and intuition in the twentieth-century Indian thought. The next three chapters try to throw light on the important contributions made by Sri Aurobindo, Bhattacharyya and Radhakrishnan respectively, on the fundamental problems of reason and intuition. The second chapter, which deals with the conceptions of reason and intuition in Sri Aurobindo, draws particular attention to his conception of the higher reason or the logic of the infinite, the integral knowledge, the distinction between intuition and integral or supramental knowledge, the relation of reason with the evolutionary process and Sri Aurobindo’s views on the goal of human life and of history.