Essays in Philosophy

Essays in Philosophy

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Book Specification

Item Code: IDJ273
Author: Swami Sivananda
Publisher: THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY
Edition: 2007
ISBN: 8170521955
Pages: 111
Cover: Paperback
Other Details 8.3" X 5.4"
Weight 120 gm

Book Description

Sri Swami Sivananda

Born on the 8th September, 1887, in the illustrious family of Sage Appayya Dikshitar and several other renowned saints and savants, Sri Swami Sivananda had a natural flair or a life devoted to the study and practice of Vedanta. Added to this was an inborn eagerness to serve all and an innate feeling of unity with all mankind.

His passion for service drew him to the medical career; and soon he gravitated to where he thought that his service was most needed. Malaya claimed him. He had earlier been editing a health journal and wrote extensively on health problems. He discovered that people needed right knowledge most of all, dissemination of that knowledge he espoused as his own mission.

It was divine dispensation and the blessing of God upon mankind that the doctor of body and mind renounced his career and took to a life of renunciation to quality for ministering to the soul of man. He settled down at Rishikesh in 1924, practised intense austerities and shone as a great Yogi, saint, sage and Jivanmukta.

In 1932 Swami Sivananda started Sivanandashram. In 1936 was born The Divine Life Society. In 1948 the Yoga-Vedanta Forest Academy was organized. Dissemination of spiritual knowledge and training of people in Yoga and Vedanta were their aim and object. In 1950 Swamiji undertook a lightning tour of India and Ceylon. In 1953 Swamiji convened a 'World Parliament of Religions.' Swamiji is the author of over 300 volumes and has disciples all over the world, belonging to all nationalities, religions and creeds. To read Swamiji's works is to drink at the Fountain of Wisdom Supreme. On 14th July, 1963 Swamiji entered Mahasamadhi.

About this Book

This illuminating volume has been specially written for those who are soaked in Western philosophic thought and the scientific method of arriving at conclusions. These Essays in Philosophy are not based on mere belief or superstition, not on mere scriptural injunctions and declarations, but on good reason backed by the personal experiences of a living Sage of Self-realisation. As such, they are bound to appeal to, and transform, people of all shades of thought and opinion.

These essays were first serially published in the monthly Journal of the Durban Branch of the Divine Life Society, THE PATH TO GOD-REALISATION, and have had a very good reception in South Africa, especially in view of the fact that the use of Sanskrit technical terms, inevitable in most dissertations based on Oriental Scriptures, has been kept to the barest minimum.

We do hope that this presentation will appeal to the mind and the heart of modern English educated youth of all nations.

CONTENTS
Chapter I
INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY
The Indian Philosopher and the Philosophy of Life 17
Branches of Philosophy 20
Epistemology or Theory of Knowledge 22
Logic and the Laws of Thought 23
Ethics or Moral Philosophy 24
The Problem of Good and Evil 27
Eschatology 28
Teleology 30
Chapter II
PHILOSOPHY SCIENCE AND RELIGION
Science, and Philosophy 31
Science of Religion 31
Limitations of Science 32
Religion and Philosophy 33
Religion and the Modern Temper 35
Chapter III
GOD
The Prime Mover Unmoved 36
Nature of God 37
Proofs for the Existence of God 38
Nature of the Reality 40
Individual Consciousness and the Ultimate Reality 42
Chapter IV
WORLD
Appearance and Reality 44
The Nature of the Universe 45
The Doctrine of Maya 47
Chapter V
MAN
Man, His Metaphysical Significance 52
Analysis of the Self 54
Chapter VI
INTRODUCTION
Personality and Individuality 55
The Importance of Intuition 59
The Nature and Value of Intuition 62
Claims of Intuition 66
The Critique of Reason 68
Limitations of Intellect 70
Chapter VII
REALISATION
Cosmic Consciousness 72
The Experience of the Real 73
The Method of Mental Evolution 78
GARLAND OF PHILOSOPHY
Gist of Western Philosophy 80
Western Philosophic Thought 82
Critical Appreciation of Western Philosophy 82
Diverse Philosophic "Isms" 84
Determinism and Free will 85
The Law of Cause and Effect 87
LIVES OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHERS
Zeno of Elea 89
Socrates 89
Plato 90
Aristotle 92
Bruno Giordano 93
Francis Bacon 94
Descrates, Rane 95
Berkeley, George, D. P. 96
Hume, David 97
Immanual Kant 98
Hegel 99
Arthur Schopenhauer 99
James William 100
Bradley, Francis Herbert 101
Bergson, Henri Louis 101
Alexander, Samuel, O. M., LL.D., D. LITT 102
Saint Bonaventure 103
Swedenberg Emmanuel 103
Montaigne Michel De 104
Sir Oliver Lodge 105
Adler Alfred 105
Sir Alexander Fleming 106
Pascal, Blaise 107
Lotze, Rudolph Herman 107

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