Existence and Perception in Medieval Vedānta: Vyāsatīrtha’s Defence of Realism in the Nyāyāmr̥ta

Michael Thomas Williams

book: Existence and Perception in Medieval Vedānta

Open Access Published by De Gruyter 2024

Existence and Perception in Medieval Vedānta

Vyāsatīrtha’s Defence of Realism in the Nyāyāmr̥ta

Michael Thomas Williams
Funded by: Österreichischer Wissenschaftsfonds FWF

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110728521

Overview
Contents

About this book

Open Access

This book focuses on discussions of metaphysics and epistemology in early modern India found in the works of the South Indian philosopher Vyāsatīrtha (1460–1539). Vyāsatīrtha was pivotal to the ascendancy of the Mādhva tradition to intellectual and political influence in the Vijayanagara Empire.

This book is primarily a philosophical reconstruction based on original translations of relevant parts of Vyāsatīrtha’s Sanskrit philosophical text, the “Nectar of Logic” (Nyāyāmr̥ta). Vyāsatīrtha wrote the Nyāyāmr̥ta as a vindication of his tradition’s theistic world view against the Advaita tradition of Vedānta. In the centuries after it was written, the Nyāyāmr̥ta came to dominate philosophical discussions among Vedānta traditions in India.

The Advaitins argued for an anti-realist stance about the empirical world, according to which the world of our experience is simply an illusion that can be dispelled by a deep study of the Upaniṣads. This book reconstructs the parts of the Nyāyāmr̥ta where Vyāsatīrtha argues in favor of the reality of the world against the Advaitins. Philosophically, it focuses on the concept of existence in Vyāsatīrtha’s metaphysics, and on his arguments about knowledge and the philosophy of perception.

Author / Editor information

Michael Thomas Williams, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria.

Topics

Frontmatter Open Access Download PDF	I
Contents Open Access Download PDF	VII
Acknowledgements Open Access Download PDF	IX
1 Introduction Open Access Download PDF	1
2 An historical overview of the Mādhva–Advaita debate Open Access Download PDF	15
3 An outline of Mādhva philosophy Open Access Download PDF	46
4 Vyāsatīrtha’s Analysis of Advaita Philosophy Open Access Download PDF	79
5 Perceiving existence Open Access Download PDF	112
6 Illusion and nonexistence in the Nyāyāmr̥ta Open Access Download PDF	148
7 Vyāsatīrtha and Navya-Nyāya philosophy Open Access Download PDF	185
8 Introduction to the translation of the Prathamamithyātvabhaṅga Open Access Download PDF	223
9 Text, translation, and commentary of the Prathamamithyātvabhaṅga Open Access Download PDF	233
10 Conclusion Open Access Download PDF	305
Bibliography Open Access Download PDF	311
Index of English terms Open Access Download PDF	319
Index of Sanskrit terms Open Access Download PDF	321
Index of Sanskrit texts and authors Open Access Download PDF	325

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Researchers of the fields Indian philosophy/theology, metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy, indologists
Pages
- Front matter: 10
- Main content: 327
Illustrations
- Tables: 1
Keywords: Philosophy; Vedānta; metaphysics; realism

eBook

Published: August 6, 2024
ISBN: 9783110728521

Hardcover

Published: August 6, 2024
ISBN: 9783110728491