Nature and Scope of Indian Philosophy

(Unit I Introduction)

Every being on the earth, including human, struggles for existence. However there is a
striking difference between the other living beings and the human. Other living beings
struggle without thinking about the purpose and plan of their struggle and work by instinct;
whereas human being uses her/his intellect to understand the purpose and reason behind the
struggle. Further, with the help of the intellect, she/he develops plan and instruments to make
sure of the success. A human wishes to lead life according to the understanding of
herself/himself and the world while not considering the immediate and far-reaching results of
her/his actions.

Thus human has a rational nature; and the desire for knowledge springs from that rational
nature. The desire for knowledge is not a luxury, but a necessity. Philosophy attempts to
satisfy this very reasonable desire for knowledge. People live according to their own
philosophy of life and their own conception of the world. Even a most thoughtless person has
her/his own philosophy and conception of the world. Living without a metaphysic is not
possible (Metaphysic examines the fundamental nature of reality, including the relationship
between mind and matter, between substance and attribute and between potentiality and
actuality).

Philosophy means ‘love of knowledge’. It attempts to search for knowledge about self, the
world and God. In other words Philosophy aims at the knowledge of truth. We see that there
are age-old problems that bother the human mind in the whole world. Philosophy deals with
such problems. Every school of Indian Philosophy offers a direct realization of truth
(tattvadarśana). A person who has realization of herself/himself, the world and God, becomes
free of the world; but one who lacks it is entangled in the world.

The basic problems of philosophy in the East and the West are same so also the chief
solutions to these problems. Nevertheless, the methods of philosophical enquiry differ in
certain ways. Also the processes of the development of philosophical thought differ from each
other.

Indian Philosophy discusses various problems of Metaphysics (examination of the

fundamental nature of reality, including the relationship between mind and matter, between
substance and attribute), Ethics, Logic, Psychology and Epistemology together. It does not
discuss them separately. Indian Philosophers discuss each problem from metaphysical,
ethical, logical psychological and epistemological approaches as far as possible. This is called
the synthetic outlook of Indian Philosophy.