[Advaita-l] shaDdarhana and other unorthodox schools

[Ram Garib]

Sri Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian wrote:

> Some are even
> borderline/actual racists. One
> particular discussion in the old Indology list comes
> to mind - where
> one gentleman dismissed all Indian engineers as of
> poor quality (based
> on perhaps some bad experiences). 
.....
> It's our own fault that this is happening. Foreign
> authors have to
> prove to *us* about their capability. 

I appreciate your point about technical education but
I believe similar sentiments are not justified for 
philosophy. 

I have had occasion to be associated with Indian
Council of Philosophical Research. Though, a
bureaucrat's opinion about academic matters hardly
means anything yet even with my limited understanding
of philosophy I have felt embarassed by the quality of
research going in indian philosophy. You can see the
same old arguments being parroted in research papers
about their stand being "true" without even making any
effort to clarify what they mean by "true": Is it
contingent true or necessary true or analytic or de
re?; and then jumping from one class to another class
as per their convenience. No wonder such imprecisely
constructed arguments and research would seem too
infantile to a western philosopher to even take any
notice. 

OTOH, I feel that western philosophers have been too
lenient with Indian schools (or it may be just their
benign neglect). Today, no philosopher wants to be
seen as interfering in 'religious' beliefs of people.
You will notice that a hard scrutiny of indian schools
is kept restricted to innocuous schools such as navya
nyAya that do not have any religious following. 

With regards,
Ram Garib


		
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