An Introduction To Indian Philosophy

There came into existence in this way the different special sciences, Physics, Chemistry, Botany, Astronomy, Geology and similar sciences, each took up a part or aspect of the world of nature. Physiology, Anatomy and the other medical sciences devoted themselves to the different problems of the human body. Psychology began to study the problems of the human mind. The detailed study of many of the particular problems with which philosophical speculation originally started became thus the subject-matter of the special sciences. Philosophy then began to depend on the reports of the investigation made by the different sciences, tried to understand their meanings and implications critically, and utilised these results for understanding the general nature of the universe—man, nature and God. Western philosophy at the present day has for its main branches (a) Metaphysics, which discusses the general problems regarding reality—man, nature and God; (b) Epistemology or theory of knowledge, which enquires into the nature of human knowledge , as to how it develops and how far it is able to grasp reality; (c) Logic, which discusses the laws of valid reasoning and other incidental problems; (d) Ethics, which investigates the problems of morality, such as the standard of moral judgement, the highest goal of human life and other cognate problems; and (e) Aesthetics, which deals with the problems of beauty. Another recent development of philosophy in the West, called Axiology, is devoted to the discussion of the problem of values. Social Philosophy is also regarded as a branch of philosophy and often discussed along with Ethics. Psychology had been for long a very important branch of philosophy, but the tendency now is to treat it as one of the special sciences like Physics and Chemistry and give it a place independent of philosophy. Though the basic problems of philosophy have been the same in the East as in the West and the chief solutions have striking similarities, yet the methods of philosophical enquiry differ in certain respects and the processes of the development of philosophical thought also vary. Indian philosophy discusses the different problems of Metaphysics, Ethics, Logic, Psychology and Epistemology, but generally it does not discuss them separately. Every problem is discussed by the Indian philosopher from all possible approaches. This tendency has been called by some thinkers, like Sir B.N. Seal, the synthetic outlook of Indian philosophy.