Modern introduction to Indian logic.
- Delhi N.P.H. 1965
- 338
There is a tendency among yonng Indian philosophers to deprecate the study of Indian logic. This is for two opposite reasons. One section thinks that Indian logicians have made logic so verbose, hairsplitting, technical and superficial that real philosophical problems slip out of it. This section wants to make philosophy idealistic and mystical consistently with the official tradition of India. The other section discourages the historical study as useless. Philosophers belonging to this fraction think that when new techniques are being developed in logic no useful purpose can be served by going back to old and primitive theories which are smothered with theology and metaphysics. This may be only partially true. For even if we may not accept the Buddhist view that it is only the past that is known, anything known certainly becomes a part of history and if the study of history is to be discouraged the same truth will have to be discovered again and again. It is not true that we do not act on past knowledge polishing it when required. We should profit by old experience and it is likely that the past discoveries may help us view the new theories with greater ease and in better perspective. The past need not always be strewn only with primitive techniques. Moreover, the cultural value of history cannot be denied. The study of Indian logic is all the more important from this point. For as Professor Ingalls put it, “It is in logic that they created a new style and method in Indian Philosophy.