Contemporary Vedanta Philosophy 02

Author(s): George Burch
Publisher: George Burch

Page 2

CONTEMPORARY VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY, 11
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Advaitin in philosophy. He is a man of striking appearance and forceful personality. He is a scholar, both a D.Litt. and an Acharya.' His oral style is vigorous, yet always digressing and seldom following any topic to its conclusion. He is extremely argumentative, and would meet any philosophical remark with the proposal that we argue about it. His thought is never dogmatic, but fluid and organic, and he welcomes criticisms, corrections, or additions which he can incorporate into his system. He is tolerant of all philosophical views, and tries to understand them in their own terms."
He has published one book and several articles. The book, The Central Philosophy of Buddhism (D.Litt. Thesis, 1947, published 1955), a historical, systematic, and comparative study of Madhyamika Buddhism, is erudite, subtle, and clear-certainly one of the most important philosophical books to come from India in this century. His most important articles are “Knowing, Feeling and Willing as Functions of Consciousness" (1934), "Illusion as Confusion of Subjective Functions" (1935), "The Nature and Value of Metaphysics" (1941), and "The Philosophy of Spirit" (1952, in Contemporary Indian Philosophy, where it is erroneously entitled "The Spirit of Philosophy"). In view of the fluidity of his thought, the earlier articles cannot always be taken as representing his present doctrine.
G. R. Malkani and R. Das with Murti form a trio of contrasting philosophies and personalities; they are outstanding representatives of speculative, critical and scholarly philosophy, respectively, in India today. Malkani's inflexible habits reflect his rigorous thought, Das's wide friendships reflect his broad interests, and Murti's conventionality reflects his classical scholarship.
• India has two educational systems, the British-established government-accredited universities, teaching in English a curriculum based on Western culture, and giving the graduate degrees of M.A., Ph.D., and D.Litt. (a sort of super-Ph.D.); and the schools of the pandits, teaching in Sanskrit a curriculum based on Indian culture, and giving the degrees of Sastri (equivalent to master) and Acharya (equivalent to doctor).
He distinguishes seven principal schools in Indian philosophy, each characterized by the fundamental principle on which its doctrine is based Vedanta (distinction between reality and appearance), Sankhya (fact of change), Nyaya (everything knowable), Madhyamika (awareness of all philosophy as false), Vignanavada (consciousness alone real), Sautantrika (real not permanent), Jainism (reality manifold).