Classical Indian Philosophy of Mind

It is, in many ways, a fascinating book. The book presents the views of an important Indian school of philosophy in a clear, compelling manner. It explains the views of mind, self, and body in a way that is easy to grasp and understand for students of Western philosophy. These Indian views are fascinating and relevant to Western philosophy. John Kearns is the author of Reconceiving Experience. A Solution to a Problem Inherited From Descartes. “The author clearly has a lot of knowledge about both Indian philosophy and Western philosophy. This is evident in his brilliant discussions of contemporary and classic aspects of Western thought that he considers relevant to the positions and analyses made by Nyaya–Vaisesika thinkers. Chakrabarti’s explanations of Nyaya–Vaisesika philosophy are particularly impressive. – Karl H. Potter University of Washington –John Kearnl Author, Reconceiving experience: A solution to a problem inherited from Descartes
This book explores the Nyaya school, an Indian philosophy that teaches psycho-physical dualism. Many world religions, which encourage personal immortality, and morality that promotes free will, consider dualism important. The Nyaya views the self as a permanent, immaterial substance that can be used to create non-physical internal states such as cognition. Other Indian schools, including the Buddhist and Carvaka schools, challenge this view. Chakrabarti demonstrates the interconnections between the Western and Indian debates about the mind-body issue and shows that Nyaya’s position is well-developed, articulated, and defendable. He demonstrates that Nyaya dualism is different from Cartesian dualism, and it is not susceptible to certain traditional objections. The Nyaya perspective includes a brief discussion on the Samkhya, Advaita theories and the criticism of them. There is also a discussion about a classic Nyaya causal argument supporting the existence of God. An annotated translation of select portions of Udayana’s Masterpiece, Atmattvaviveka (Discerning the nature of the Self), is included in the appendix.