Indian Philosophy: Schools, Concepts and Metaphysical Systems
Schools and classification
Astika schools accept Vedic authority: Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Mimamsa and Vedanta. Nastika schools reject it: Charvaka, Buddhism and Jainism. Nyaya-Vaisheshika is realist and pluralist, analysing pramanas and categories; Samkhya posits purusha and prakriti; Yoga adds disciplined practice; Mimamsa stresses ritual and dharma; Vedanta interprets Brahman. Charvaka is materialist and accepts perception as the primary means of knowledge.
Key concepts
- Samsara, karma and moksha frame liberation.
- Buddhism teaches anatta (no permanent self), dependent origination and momentariness.
- Jainism offers anekantavada (many-sidedness) and syadvada (qualified predication).
- Advaita Vedanta holds Brahman alone real; plurality is maya or avidya. Vishishtadvaita and Dvaita qualify or deny identity.
- Pramanas include perception, inference, testimony, comparison, postulation and non-perception.
Worked example
In Advaita's rope-snake example, a rope in dim light is mistaken for a snake. The error is not arbitrary: the rope supports the appearance, and correct knowledge cancels fear. Reasoning: the example illustrates avidya, not that all views are equal. It supports non-dualism by treating difference as superimposed on one reality.
Traps
- Equating nastika with immoral or atheistic simpliciter; it means non-Vedic.
- Reading Samkhya dualism as Cartesian mind-body dualism.
- Treating syadvada as anything-goes relativism rather than disciplined, standpoint-sensitive predication.