________________
Presidential Address
763
be for us to show that its doctrines have a philosophical value apart from their antiquity, and that they deserve a place in every history of Philosophy. I venture to think that if properly presented, they possess sufficient philosophical worth to influence the currents of modern philosophy. We hope that the valuable work which two of our distinguished countrymen and fellow-workers, Prof. Radhakrishnan and Prof. Das-Gupta have started will be followed up by a still greater effort in the shape of a review of Indian thought in the language and from the standpoint of Western Philosophy, and vice versa.
II But before I proceed further, I imagine that I hear a voice from across the seas putting me this question: Is Indian Philosophy philosophy at all in the proper sense of the word, that is, the sense in which it is understood in Europe ? As is well-known, the word originally meant 'striving after knowledge' but in the school of Plato and Aristotle, of Aristotle rather than of Plato, it came to acquire the sense of methodical thinking. After the rise of Christianity and during the middle Ages in Europe, Philosophy became a handmaid of Religion. But later, 'from presentation and defence of the (Christian ) doctrine she passed to its criticism' and finally established herself as an independent potentate. This easy separation of. Religion and Philosophy need not surprise 'us if we remember that the two had separate sources, one in Palestine and the other in Greece, although by a historical accident they happened to be united in Pauline Christianity in the beginning and for some
