Name: Indian Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction
Rating: 3 (1 reviews)
ISBN: 9780192853745

Sue Hamilton

Indian Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction

Tim Pendry

To explain the complexities of Indian Philosophy over two thousand years or so in one of the Very Short Introduction series from Oxford is asking for trouble but, within the series' constraints, Sue Hamilton does as good a job as might be possible under the circumstances. On the positive side, she provides a framework for further study and helps us to understand both the developmental processes and sophistication of Indian thought. This was not burdened by the necessity to take into account an Abrahamanic variant of God. It is difficult to separate philosophy from religion in the cases of Christian Europe, Judaism and Islam but these latter were able to construct a philosophical approach despite God. Indian philosophy can justly be regarded as a different and great thinking tradition, one that still allowed for 'God'. Hamilton takes us from early Brahminical practice and thought through the multiplying and interweaving branches of Hindu and Buddhist investigations of reality and language. This leads us to the inevitable negative side of the book. There is just too much happening here over too long a period. This is not Hamilton's fault. Her subject is complex. Over-simplification would mislead the serious reader. Her prose is clear but the need to cover so much ground means that this cannot be more than a framework. It is perhaps best to treat it as a useful way station than a terminus.

Indian Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction

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