Tradition and Reflection (Explorations in Indian Thought)

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This book examines, above all, the relationship between reason and Vedic revelation, and the philosophical responses to the idea of the Veda. It deals with such topics as dharma, karma and rebirth, the role of man in the universe, the motivation and justification of human actions, the relationship between ritual norms and universal ethics, and reflections on the goals and sources of human knowledge.

Halbfass presents previously unknown materials concerning the history of sectarian movements, including the notorious "Thags" (thaka), and relations between Indian and Iranian thought. The approach is parly philosophical and partly historical and philological; to a certain extent, it is also comparative.

The author explores indigenous Indian reflections on the sources, the structure and the meaning of the Hindu tradition, and traditional philosophical responses to social and historical realities. He does not deal with social and historical realities per se; rather, basing his work on the premise that to understand these realities the reflections and constructions of traditional Indian theorists are no less significant than the observations and paradigms of modern Western historians and social scientists, he explores the self-understanding of such leading thinkers as Sankara, Kumarila, Bharthari and Udayana. The book contains ten chapters. They are Ch.1 The Idea of the Veda and the Identity of Hinduism; Ch. 2 The Presence of the Veda in Indian Philosophical Reflection; Ch. 3 Vedic Orthodoxy and the Plurality of Religious Traditions; Ch.4 Vedic Apologetics, Ritual Killing, and the Foundation of Ethics; Ch. 5 Human Reason and Vedic Revelation in Advaita Vedanta; Ch. 6 Sankara, the Yoga of Patanjali, and the So called Yogasutrabhasyavivarna; Ch. 7 The Therapeutic Paradigm and the Search for Identity in Indian Philosophy; Ch. 8 Man and Self in Traditional Indian Thought; Ch. 9 Competing Causalities Karma, Vedic Rituals, and the Natural World; and Ch. 10 Homo Hierarchicus the Conceptualization of the Varna System in Indian Thought. The "Halbfass treats areas of Indian philosophy which have not been treated systematically until now, the understanding of which is non- theless very important for our understanding of Indian philosophy as a whole. His work marks an important shift in our awareness away from theories of reality and knowledge per se, toward the larger fremework of hemeneutical reflection and human motiva- tion within which those theories were devised. This is a work of exceptional quality and importance; a significant, new picture of Hindu philosophical thought emerges.

Wilhelm Halbfass is Professor of Indian Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of India and Europe : An Essay in Understanding.

This book continues and supplements the investigations presented in India and Europe: An Essay in Understanding (SUNY Press, 1988). It combines ten interrelated essays on fundamental issues of traditional Indian self-understanding. Its topics include the idea of dharma, karma and rebirth, the role of man in the universe, the structure of society, the relation between ritual norms and universal ethics, as well as questions concerning the motivation and justification of human actions, and reflections on the goals and sources of human knowledge. Above all, the book deals with the relations and tensions between reason and Vedic revelation, and with philosophical responses to the idea of the Veda.

The essays found in this book examine the self-understanding of Sankara, Kumarila, Bharthari, Udayana, and other leading exponents of "orthodox" Hindu thought. But they also explore more remote and apparently marginal phenomena, for instance, the traditions concerning the mysterious "liberators from samsara" (sam- saramocaka) and the notorious Thags (thaka). The approach is partly philosophical and partly historical and philological. To a certain ex- tent, it is also comparative. The essays deal with indigenous Indian reflections on the sources, the internal structure and the inherent meaning of the Hindu tradition, and with traditional philosophical responses to social and historical realities. They do not deal with social and historical realities per se. They are, however, based upon the premise that for understanding these realities the reflections and constructions of traditional Indian theorists are no less significant than the observations and paradigms of modern Western historians and social scientists. Indian thought has its own ways of dealing with, or compensating for, the realities of Indian life. In trying to understand these modes of thought, we are dealing with the reality of the Indian tradition through the medium of Indian theoretical and soteriological reflection.

In spite of their mutual affinities and their thematic associations with India and Europe, the ten chapters which make up this volume are different and mutually independent, as far as their actual gene- sis is concerned.