The Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Volume 3: Advaita Vedanta up to Samkara and His Pupils

by Karl H. Potter (Editor)

Samkhya is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, system of classical Indian philosophy. This book traces its history from the third or fourth century B. C. up through the twentieth century. "The Encyclopedia" as a whole will present the substance of the various Indian systems of thought to philosophers unable to read the Sanskrit and having difficulty in finding their way about in the translations (where such exist). This volume includes a lengthy introduction by Gerald James Larson, which discusses the history of Samkhya and its philosophical contours overall. The remainder of the book includes summaries in English of all extant Sanskrit texts of the system.

Originally published in 1987.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Buddhism

635 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1972

Reviews

[Anmol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Potter's way of discussing the Indian philosophical systems is quite original - he takes a 'problems' perspective, rather than the traditional perspective of most other textbooks. This leads him to dividing Indian philosophers as 'leap' and 'progress' philosophers - as far as I can tell, this simply means whether or not they believe in ajativada (what Potter calls 'leap' philosophy, ie. where it is possible to leap out of the whole causal chain of the world for the attainment of freedom).

While I admire Potter's original attempt at discussing Indian philosophy, it does lead to a lot of confusion - indeed, some of the authors discussed simultaneously are jarring from an Indian perspective. Potter's discussion of Nyaya logic is also quite unnecessary and doesn't quite fit with the structure of the textbook - many other criticisms could be made of the structure of this text.

Nonetheless, when it comes to the content, I think Potter is at his best when he is discussing Advaita Vedanta after Shankaracharya. He explains the various debates of the later Advaitins in a beautiful way, almost as good if not better than C.D. Sharma. But I wish I could say the same for the rest of the book: his discussion of Nagarjuna is particularly lacking, though he displays a good command over the Yogachara philosophers. Also, now that I think of it, I can't remember a single reference to Theravada Buddhism in the whole text, which is a shame.

[A. B.]

Not a bad read, but I regret my interests flitted to other pastures a third of the way through.