Buddhist Logic (A Fresh Stady of Dharmakirti's Philosophy)

In the book entailed, 'Buddhist Logic: A Fresh study of Dharmakirti's Philosophy', an attempt is made to explain the nature of empirical world with reference to which the Buddha's thoughts could significantly be brought out. Gautama Buddha kept silent when he was asked about metaphysical questions. However, every social and moral philosophy presupposes metaphysics. So it was the responsibility of the Buddhist philosophers belonging to systematic period to investigate the metaphysical, epistemological, logical and methodological considerations behind the Buddha's silence. Nagarjuna, Asanga, vasubandhu and Dinnaga have made an attempt to interpret the Buddha's thoughts. Dharmakirti is not an exception to this. He has made an attempt to interpret the Buddha's thoughts with reference to empirical world. In this book an attempt is made to explain the nature and structure of this world by considering the Svalaksana and Samanyalaksan as constitutive and structural features of this world and further, it is explained that they are cognized by perception and inference respectively. In this context various concepts like Pramâna-vipalava validity and soundness of an argument and various logical fallacies at the hands of Dharmakirti have been discussed. I hope that this book is useful to the students, scholars and researchers of Buddhist Logic in particular and Indian logic in general.

Professor Lata Dilip Chhatre isa retired Professor and Head of the Philosophy Department, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune (Maharashtra) India. She is renounced scholar of Buddhism and feminist Philosophy. She has published four books on Buddhism. Her more than forty research articles have been published in national and international Journals. She has completed five research projects on Buddhism. All projects were financed by U.G.C. She has research experience of more than thirty years and seventeen years teaching experience.

If one glances at the history of various thought-currents of the philosophy of Indian origin then one would notice that various concepts, problems, issues related and connected with the human life in its varied aspects are discussed and considered at different levels by their respective adherents. Buddhism, one of the schools of Indian philosophy and its adherents are not an exception to this. Gautama, the Buddha and the founder of this trend of philosophical thought, attempted to discuss some of them. He tried to solve the issue of pain and suffering in human life by pointing out that Tryna or excessive, uncontrolled and unregulated desire to retain, possess, acquire and amass anything and everything that one is tempted to, without rhyme or reason, is the root-cause of suffering that comes to human lot. After his Nirvana the councils were held to formulate and explicate what the Buddha had said. Sutta Pitaka, Vinaya Pitaka and Abhidhamma Pitaka are products of these councils. But what these councils presented are collections of what the Buddha is said to have said, especially in religious and ethical contexts. These collections were seen unable to systematically bring out the significance and relevance of Buddha's teaching with reference to a given particular situation, context and the world. Hence, it was perhaps felt necessary to spell out the nature of that sort of world and life with reference to which significance and relevance of the Buddha's teaching could be hopefully brought out. If the Buddha's teaching does not have any bearing on our life and if the world we live in is dissociated from it then interest in the Buddha's thought is likely to be held to be of purely academic and historical nature. To bring out the significance and relevance of the Buddha's philosophy, important doctrines, principles, concepts, issues and problems discussed by him should be considered in a systematic way. That is, his thoughts on various issues discussed by him should not merely be tabulated and enlisted. The interconnection between and among them should be so brought out that unity of his thought would not be missed. At the same time the relevance of his thought should not remain confined only to particular sorts of issues, contexts and situations.

At the hands of Buddhist philosophers of the systematic period of Buddhist philosophy this issue gathered considerable importance and they made an attempt to present Buddha's thoughts in a systematic and methodologically viable and respectable way. Nagarjuna, Asanga, Vasubandhu, Dinnaga, Dharmakirti are some of the important Buddhist philosophers belonging to the systematic period of Buddhism. Each one of them seems to have made an attempt to bring out the significance and relevance of Buddha's teaching and yet each of them brought it forth in a different way. Naturally, these philosophers have an important role to play in the development of Buddhist philosophy. Hence, it is quite natural that a scholar who is interested in Buddhism and its development is attracted by these philosophers. Many scholars, ancient and modern, oriental and occidental have taken a keen interest in studying and comprehending the philosophical thoughts of these philosophers. But at their hands some points of the thought of the Buddhist philosophers have come to be highlighted either in isolation from others or some major considerations have come unfortunately to be missed altogether. In attempts of this kind, however, certain features stand out in bolder relief.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages