Hindu philosophy

Hindu philosophy or Vedic philosophy is the set of philosophical systems that developed in tandem with the first Hindu religious traditions during the iron and classical ages of India. In Indian philosophy, of which Hindu philosophy is a prominent subset, the word used for philosophy is Darshana (Sanskrit: दर्शन; meaning: "viewpoint or perspective"), from the Sanskrit root 'दृश' («drish») meaning 'to see, to experience'.

The schools of thought or Darshanas within Hindu philosophy largely equate to the six ancient orthodox schools: the āstika (Sanskrit: आस्तिक) schools, defined by their acceptance of the Vedas, the oldest collection of Sanskrit texts, as an authoritative source of knowledge. Of these six, Samkhya (सांख्य) is the earliest school of dualism; Yoga (योग) combines the metaphysics of Samkhya with meditation and breath techniques; Nyaya (न्याय) is a school of logic emphasising direct realism; Vaisheshika (वैषेशिक) is an offshoot of Nyaya concerned with atomism and naturalism; Mimamsa (मीमांसा) is a school justifying ritual, faith, and religious obligations; and Vedanta (वेदान्त) contains various traditions that mostly embrace nondualism.

The Indian philosophical landscape during the ancient and medieval periods also produced philosophical systems that share many concepts with the āstika traditions, yet at the same time reject or oppose several central Vedic concepts, such as Ātman, or interpret them in their own way. These have been called «nāstika» (heterodox or non-orthodox) philosophies, and they include: Buddhism, Jainism, Charvaka, Ajivika, and others. These nāstika schools of thought are thus regarded as Indian but almost never as Hindu. Western scholars have debated the relationship and differences within āstika philosophies and with the nāstika philosophies, starting with the writings of Indologists and Orientalists of the 18th and 19th centuries, based on limited availability of Indian literature and medieval doxographies. The various sibling traditions included in Indian philosophies are diverse and are united by: shared history and concepts, textual resources, ontological and soteriological focus, and cosmology. Some ambiguity arises from the word Hindu being an exonym historically used as a geographical and cultural identifier for people living in the Indian subcontinent, sometimes regardless of their beliefs.

Hindu philosophy also includes several sub-schools of theistic philosophies that integrate ideas from two or more of the six orthodox philosophies. Examples of such schools include: Pāśupata Śaiva, Śaiva siddhānta, Pratyabhijña, Raseśvara and Vaiṣṇava. Some sub-schools share Tantric ideas with those found in some Buddhist traditions, which are nevertheless found in the Puranas and the Āgamas. Each school of Hindu philosophy has extensive epistemological literature called Pramana, as well as theories on metaphysics, axiology, and other topics.

Classifications

Āstika and nāstika
In the history of India, the six orthodox schools had emerged before the start of the Common Era, and some schools emerged possibly even before the Buddha. Some scholars have questioned whether the orthodox and heterodox schools classification is sufficient or accurate, given the diversity and evolution of views within each major school of Indian philosophy, with some sub-schools combining heterodox and orthodox views.

Since ancient times, Indian philosophy has been categorised into «āstika» and «nāstika» schools of thought. The orthodox schools of Indian philosophy have been called «ṣaḍdarśana» ('six systems'). This schema was created between the 12th and 16th centuries by Vedantins. It was then adopted by the early Western Indologists, and pervades modern understandings of Indian philosophy. Satoshi Ogura thus warns that we should keep in mind the tendency of classification of Indic knowledge in Persianate discourses and its legacies in modern writings in both India and the Western world.

Āstika

There are six «āstika» (orthodox) schools of thought. Each is called a darśana, and each darśana accepts the Vedas as authority. Each «āstika darśana» also accepts the premise that Atman (eternal Self) exists. The schools of philosophy are:

1. Samkhya – A strongly dualist theoretical exposition of consciousness (purusha) and matter (prakriti). Agnostic with respect to God or the gods.
2. Yoga – A monotheistic school which emerged from Samkhya and emphasises practical use of Samkhya theory: meditation, contemplation and liberation.
3. Nyaya or logic – The school of epistemology which explores sources of knowledge.
4. Vaisheshika – An empiricist school of atomism.
5. Mīmāṃsā – An anti-ascetic and anti-mysticist school of orthopraxy. This tradition is also known as Pūrva-Mīmāṁsā because of its focus on the earlier (pūrva) Vedic texts dealing with ritual actions, and similarly also known as Karma-Mīmāṁsā due to its focus on ritual action (karma).
6. Vedanta – They focus on the last segment of knowledge in the Vedas, or «jñānakāṇḍa» ('section of knowledge'). Vedanta is also referred to as Uttara-Mimamsa. Vedānta came to be the dominant current of Hinduism in the post-medieval period. This school considers the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras, and the Bhagvad Gita as authoritative texts.

Nāstika

Buddhist philosophy
Schools that do not accept the authority of the Vedas are nāstika philosophies, of which four (heterodox) schools are prominent:

1. Charvaka, a materialism school that accepted the existence of free will.
2. Ājīvika, a materialism school that denied the existence of free will.
3. Buddhism, a philosophy that denies existence of ātman (Self) and is based on the teachings and enlightenment of Gautama Buddha.
4. Jainism, a philosophy that accepts the existence of the ātman (Self), and is based on the teachings and enlightenment of twenty-four teachers known as tirthankaras, with Rishabha as the first and Mahavira as the twenty-fourth.

Other schools

Besides the major orthodox and non-orthodox schools, there have existed syncretic sub-schools that have combined ideas and introduced new ones of their own. The medieval scholar Madhavacharya, identified by some as Vidyaranya, in his book 'Sarva-Darsana-Sangraha', includes 16 philosophical systems current as of 14th century. Along with some of the major orthodox and non-orthodox schools and sub-schools, it includes the following sub-schools:

• Pashupata Shaivism, developed by Nakulisa
• Shaiva Siddhanta, the theistic Sankhya school
• Pratyabhijña, the recognitive school of Kashmir Shaivism, Trika
• Raseśvara, a Shaiva school that advocated the use of mercury to reach immortality
• The Pāṇinīya

Characteristics

• Meaning of word Darshana, 19 March 2020, 19 September 2020, live
• Grayling, A. C., The History of Philosophy, 2019-06-20, Penguin UK, en
• Frazier, Jessica, The Continuum companion to Hindu studies, 2011, Continuum, London, 1–15
• Pennington, Brian K., Was Hinduism Invented?: Britons, Indians, and the Colonial Construction of Religion, 2005, Oxford university press, 111–118
• Nicholson, Andrew J., Unifying Hinduism: philosophy and identity in Indian intellectual history, 2014, Columbia University Press, New York

Overview

Epistemology

Pramana
Epistemology is called pramana. It has been a key, much debated field of study in Hinduism since ancient times. «Pramāṇa» is a Hindu theory of knowledge and discusses the valid means by which human beings can gain accurate knowledge. The focus of «pramāṇa» is how correct knowledge can be acquired, how one knows, how one does not, and to what extent knowledge pertinent about someone or something can be acquired.

Ancient and medieval Hindu texts identify six «pramāṇas» as correct means of accurate knowledge and truths:

1. «Pratyakṣa» – Direct perception
2. «Anumāṇa» – Inference or indirect perception
3. «Upamāṇa» – Comparison and analogy
4. «Arthāpatti» – Postulation, derivation from circumstances
5. «Anupalabdi» – Non-perception, absence of proof
6. «Shabda» – Word, testimony of past or present reliable experts

Sāmkhya

Samkhya
Sāmkhya (Sanskrit: सांख्य) is the oldest of the orthodox philosophical systems in Hinduism, with origins in the 1st millennium BCE. It is a rationalist school of Indian philosophy, and had a strong influence on other schools of Indian philosophies. Sāmkhya is an enumerationist philosophy whose epistemology accepted three of six pramāṇas as the only reliable means of gaining knowledge. These were «pratyakṣa» (perception), «anumāṇa» (inference) and «sabda» («Āptavacana», word/testimony of reliable sources).

Samkhya school espouses dualism between witness-consciousness and 'nature' (mind, perception, matter). It regards the universe as consisting of two realities: Puruṣa (witness-consciousness) and prakriti ('nature'). Jiva (a living being) is that state in which «puruṣa» is bonded to «prakriti» in some form. This fusion, state the Samkhya scholars, led to the emergence of «buddhi» (awareness, intellect) and «ahankara» (individualised ego consciousness, "I-maker"). The universe is described by this school as one created by Purusa-Prakriti entities infused with various permutations and combinations of variously enumerated elements, senses, feelings, activity and mind.

Samkhya philosophy includes a theory of gunas (qualities, innate tendencies, psyche). «Guna», it states, are of three types: «Sattva» being good, compassionate, illuminating, positive, and constructive; «Rajas guna» is one of activity, chaotic, passion, impulsive, potentially good or bad; and «Tamas» being the quality of darkness, ignorance, destructive, lethargic, negative. Everything, all life forms and human beings, state Samkhya scholars, have these three «gunas», but in different proportions. The interplay of these «gunas» defines the character of someone or something, of nature and determines the progress of life. Samkhya theorises a pluralism of Selfs («Jeevatmas») who possess consciousness. Samkhya has historically been theistic or non-theistic, and there has been debate about its specific view on God.

The Samkhya karika, one of the key texts of this school of Hindu philosophy, opens by stating its goal to be "three kinds of human suffering" and means to prevent them. The text then presents a distillation of its theories on epistemology, metaphysics, axiology and soteriology. For example, it states,

From the triad of suffering, arises this inquiry into the means of preventing it.
That is useless – if you say so, I say: No, because suffering is not absolute and final. – Verse 1
The Guṇas (qualities) respectively consist in pleasure, pain and dullness, are adapted to manifestation, activity and restraint; mutually domineer, rest on each other, produce each other, consort together, and are reciprocally present. – Verse 12 Goodness is considered to be alleviating and enlightening; foulness, urgent and persisting; darkness, heavy and enveloping. Like a lamp, they cooperate for a purpose by union of contraries. – Verse 13
There is a general cause, which is diffuse. It operates by means of the three qualities, by mixture, by modification; for different objects are diversified by influence of the several qualities respectively. – Verse 16 Since the assemblage of perceivable objects is for use (by man); Since the converse of that which has the three qualities with other properties must exist (in man); Since there must be superintendence (within man); Since there must be some entity that enjoys (within man); Since there is a tendency to abstraction (in man), therefore soul is. – Verse 17

Samkhya karika