Presuppositions of Indian Philosophy (288p) [Anomolous].pdf

Presuppositions of Indian Philosophy (288p) [Anomolous].pdf

Publisher: Greenwood Publishing*group Inc
ISBN-10: 0837189586
ISBN-13: 978-0837189581

This book is a must-read for those interested in Indian philosophies. Like ancient/medieval Western philosophies, Indian philosophy is hard to grasp unless one has a clear sense as to what sorts of problems the philosophers are trying to answer. In this work Potter does a very good job at this-- he lays out the fundamental problem that all (speculative) Indian philosophies attempt to solve: How is complete freedom possible? As explained very clearly by Potter, complete freedom is understood by classical Indian philosophers as BOTH freedom-to (i.e. we can effect changes in the world so that we can be free from bondage by karma) and freedom-from (i.e. the world leaves us with sufficient room that we don't HAVE to stay bounded or become free). Put under this fundamental understanding, Potter was able to provide a clear survey of a myriad of ~20 most significant philosphers' views-- their logics, ontologies and epistemologies-- under a very handy framework of classification.