The Concept of the Absolute and Its Alternative Forms
Key Terms
- Absolute
- Brahman
- Maya
- Truth, Value and Freedom
- K. C. Bhattacharyya
- Three Absolutes
- Four Negations
- Mobius Strip
- Trefoil Knot
Researchers
- Kalidas Bhattacharyya
- Gopinath Bhattacharyya
- Bina Gupta
- Stephen Kaplan
- George Burch
- Krishna Chandra Bhattacharyya (KC Bhattacharyya)
Revisiting K. C. Bhattacharyya’s concept of the absolute and its alternative forms: a holographic model for simultaneous illumination
Source: Revisiting K. C. Bhattacharyya’s concept of the absolute and its alternative forms: a holographic model for simultaneous illumination
Abstract
Krishnachandra Bhattacharyya, one of the preeminent Indian philosophers of the 20th century, proposed that the absolute appears in three alternative forms – truth, freedom and value. Each of these forms are for Bhattacharyya absolute, ultimate, not penultimate. Each is different from the other, yet they cannot be said to be one or many. He contends that these absolutes are incompatible with each other and that an articulation of the relation between the three absolutes is not feasible. This paper will review Bhattacharyya’s presentation of the absolute in its alternative forms and will place these abstractions within the context of three specific religious traditions that he sees illustrating his point. Then, using a model based upon holography, I will illuminate with ‘concrete images’ that which Bhattacharyya could deductively formulate but could not logically integrate. Holography, the process by which three‐dimensional images are produced from an imageless film – a film in which each part can reproduce the whole – will be used as a heuristic device to illuminate the simultaneous and mutually interpenetrating existence of the absolute in three forms. This model will illumine how these three forms can be conceived of as not the same yet not other and how these forms can be incompatible as absolutes, but metaphysically inseparable.
Notes
Correspondence to: Stephen Kaplan, Department of Religious Studies, Manhattan College, Manhattan College Parkway, Riverdale, New York 10471, USA. Email: stephen.kaplan@manhattan.edu; Tel: +1‐718‐862‐7113.
There appears to be some discrepancy in the presentation of his last name. The two volumes edited by his son, Gopinath Bhattacharyya, use a double ‘y’ while other texts use a single ‘y’. In what follows, I will use the double ‘y’ but will also follow the format of authors who use a single ‘y’ when quoting from such texts.
In the foreword to Burch (Citation1972), Clarke makes the following point about the logic of Burch’s proposal, which is essentially indebted to and an expansion of Bhattacharyya’s proposal. About the proposal in general Clarke says: ‘The thesis proposed by the book is a truly radical one, so radical, in fact, that one experiences a kind of intellectual vertigo as he slowly awakens to what the author is really saying. The thesis … the Absolute is not one but many …’ (CitationClarke, 1972, p. 1). And Clarke adds: ‘This, of course, does not prove it is not true in some domain unreachable in my logic, but only that I cannot see any way of affirming it as intelligible, not because I see it as mystery but as contrary to intelligibility.’ (CitationClarke, 1972, p. 4). Kadankavil (Citation1972), pp. 181 ff. also finds difficulty with K.C.B.’s logic of alteration understood as a logic of exclusive disjunction.
This paper will draw primarily from two works – ‘The Concept of the Absolute and its Alternative Forms’ and ‘The Concept of Philosophy’, approximately written at the same time, 1934–1936. One should also see ‘The Concept of Value’ and ch. 7, ‘The Nature of Yoga’, in ‘Studies in Yoga Philosophy’, found in Vol. I of his collected works (Bhattacharyya, Citation1956). The nature of the absolute and its alternative form is also related to a number of other topics such as his theory of negation and the notion of the indefinite.
Before proceeding any further, I should note that the holographic model is drawn from my new book, Different Paths, Different Summits: A Model for Religious Pluralism (CitationKaplan, 2002). First, I would like to express my appreciation to Rowman and Littlefield for the use of certain passages. Second, I must admit that when I wrote this book, I had not read Bhattacharyya’s articles on this topic. I had studied a number of other pieces by K.C.B. and had used his theory of fourfold negation in the formulation of my model. Likewise, I had not read the work of Burch who has written some of the clearest expositions on K.C.B. and who has also developed the notion of the absolute and its alternative forms in his own writings. These oversights in my research have ruined any claims that I might make to originality of thought, but, on the other hand, they have produced intellectual allies. Third, I must thank Professor Raimundo Panikkar whose personal correspondence about my book led me to reexamine Bhattacharyya’s writings and to discover his notion of the absolute and its alternative forms (April 2002). Finally, I would like to thank Richard Goldman (Ithaca, NY) for his assistance in wrestling with K.C.B. and the nuances of his thought.
It should be noted that here, as in the other two modes of consciousness, Bhattacharyya distinguishes a realistic view and an idealistic view. While a full discussion of this distinction is beyond the scope of this paper, it may be noted that in the case of willing, K.C.B. says: ‘That we objectively act to be subjectively free, that the good will and nothing but the good will is the value for which we will an act – the view, in fact, of Kant – may be called the idealistic view in this connexion. The realistic view here then would be that we act for an objective end and not for the subjective end of being free; and an extreme form of the view may be conceived that we objectively act in order that we objectively act for everymore’ (CitationBhattacharyya, 1958, p. 137).
‘Holographic film typically has a resolution of 2500 to 5000 lines per millimeter (10−3m), in contrast to standard photographic film, which has about 200 lines per millimeter. The higher resolution is achieved by using smaller grains of the photosensitive silver in the emulsion. The smaller grains are less sensitive to light and decrease the “speed” of the film substantially’ (CitationIovine, 1990, p. 1).
A laser is a single frequency light source that is in phase – in other words, the light waves are in step with each other. (Light from an ordinary light bulb is neither in phase nor single frequency.) The hologram records not only the varying intensities of the light as it reflects off the object, as does a photograph, but it also records the phase relations of the light reflecting off the object.
The use of these terms is indebted to David Bohm, the renowned physicist. Bohm developed a very different holographic model with a different understanding of the relation between the two domains. His model is a scientific model and it is also a model for the ultimacy of undivided wholeness. In spite of the significant debt that my project owes to Professor Bohm, my project aims at resolving problems in religious thought, not physics. This project also imagines a plurality of ultimate answers, corresponding to Bhattacharyya’s threefold formulation of the absolute, not just one absolute.
For an extended analysis of these three traditions, one is referred to Kaplan (Citation2002, ch. 5).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Stephen Kaplan
Correspondence to: Stephen Kaplan, Department of Religious Studies, Manhattan College, Manhattan College Parkway, Riverdale, New York 10471, USA. Email: stephen.kaplan@manhattan.edu; Tel: +1‐718‐862‐7113.
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Source: Revisiting K. C. Bhattacharyya’s concept of the absolute and its alternative forms: a holographic model for simultaneous illumination
Source: Revisiting K. C. Bhattacharyya’s concept of the absolute and its alternative forms: a holographic model for simultaneous illumination
Source: Revisiting K. C. Bhattacharyya’s concept of the absolute and its alternative forms: a holographic model for simultaneous illumination
Source: Revisiting K. C. Bhattacharyya’s concept of the absolute and its alternative forms: a holographic model for simultaneous illumination
Source: Revisiting K. C. Bhattacharyya’s concept of the absolute and its alternative forms: a holographic model for simultaneous illumination
Source: Revisiting K. C. Bhattacharyya’s concept of the absolute and its alternative forms: a holographic model for simultaneous illumination
Source: Revisiting K. C. Bhattacharyya’s concept of the absolute and its alternative forms: a holographic model for simultaneous illumination
Source: Revisiting K. C. Bhattacharyya’s concept of the absolute and its alternative forms: a holographic model for simultaneous illumination
Source: Revisiting K. C. Bhattacharyya’s concept of the absolute and its alternative forms: a holographic model for simultaneous illumination
Source: Revisiting K. C. Bhattacharyya’s concept of the absolute and its alternative forms: a holographic model for simultaneous illumination
Source: Revisiting K. C. Bhattacharyya’s concept of the absolute and its alternative forms: a holographic model for simultaneous illumination
Source: Revisiting K. C. Bhattacharyya’s concept of the absolute and its alternative forms: a holographic model for simultaneous illumination
Source: Revisiting K. C. Bhattacharyya’s concept of the absolute and its alternative forms: a holographic model for simultaneous illumination
Source: Revisiting K. C. Bhattacharyya’s concept of the absolute and its alternative forms: a holographic model for simultaneous illumination
Source: Revisiting K. C. Bhattacharyya’s concept of the absolute and its alternative forms: a holographic model for simultaneous illumination
Source: Revisiting K. C. Bhattacharyya’s concept of the absolute and its alternative forms: a holographic model for simultaneous illumination
Source: Revisiting K. C. Bhattacharyya’s concept of the absolute and its alternative forms: a holographic model for simultaneous illumination
Source: Revisiting K. C. Bhattacharyya’s concept of the absolute and its alternative forms: a holographic model for simultaneous illumination
Source: Revisiting K. C. Bhattacharyya’s concept of the absolute and its alternative forms: a holographic model for simultaneous illumination
Source: Revisiting K. C. Bhattacharyya’s concept of the absolute and its alternative forms: a holographic model for simultaneous illumination
Source: Revisiting K. C. Bhattacharyya’s concept of the absolute and its alternative forms: a holographic model for simultaneous illumination
Source: Revisiting K. C. Bhattacharyya’s concept of the absolute and its alternative forms: a holographic model for simultaneous illumination
Source: Revisiting K. C. Bhattacharyya’s concept of the absolute and its alternative forms: a holographic model for simultaneous illumination
Source: Revisiting K. C. Bhattacharyya’s concept of the absolute and its alternative forms: a holographic model for simultaneous illumination
“The Concept of the Absolute and Its Alternative Forms”
Source: “The Concept of the Absolute and Its Alternative Forms”
Source: “The Concept of the Absolute and Its Alternative Forms”
Source: “The Concept of the Absolute and Its Alternative Forms”
Source: “The Concept of the Absolute and Its Alternative Forms”
Source: “The Concept of the Absolute and Its Alternative Forms”
Source: “The Concept of the Absolute and Its Alternative Forms”
Source: “The Concept of the Absolute and Its Alternative Forms”
Source: “The Concept of the Absolute and Its Alternative Forms”
Source: “The Concept of the Absolute and Its Alternative Forms”
Source: “The Concept of the Absolute and Its Alternative Forms”
Source: “The Concept of the Absolute and Its Alternative Forms”
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Source: “The Concept of the Absolute and Its Alternative Forms”
Source: “The Concept of the Absolute and Its Alternative Forms”
Source: “The Concept of the Absolute and Its Alternative Forms”
Source: “The Concept of the Absolute and Its Alternative Forms”
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Source: “The Concept of the Absolute and Its Alternative Forms”
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Key Sources of Research
Revisiting K.C. Bhattacharyya’s concept of the Absolute and its alternative forms: A holographic model for simultaneous illumination
Authors: Stephen Kaplan
July 2004
Asian Philosophy 14(2):99-115
DOI:10.1080/0955236042000237354
https://philpapers.org/rec/KAPRKC
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0955236042000237354
“The Concept of the Absolute and Its Alternative Forms”.
Bhattacharyya, K.C..
Search for the Absolute in Neo-Vedanta, edited by George Bosworth Burch, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1976, pp. 175-196. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780824887025-006
https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9780824887025-006/html?lang=en
The Concept of the Absolute and Its Alternative Forms.
Bhattacharyya, Kc (1994).
In S. P. Dubey (ed.), The Metaphysics of the Spirit. Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers. pp. 1–131.
Alternative Forms of the Absolute
Truth Freedom, and Value in Bhattacharyya
Bina Gupta
International Philosophical Quarterly
Volume 20, Issue 3, September 1980
Pages 291-306
https://doi.org/10.5840/ipq198020325
The Making of Contemporary Indian Philosophy: Krishnachandra Bhattacharyya
edited by Daniel Raveh, Elise Coquereau-Saouma
2023
This book engages in a dialogue with Krishnachandra Bhattacharyya (K.C. Bhattacharyya, KCB, 1875–1949) and opens a vista to contemporary Indian philosophy.
KCB is one of the founding fathers of contemporary Indian philosophy, a distinct genre of philosophy that draws both on classical Indian philosophical sources and on Western materials, old and new. His work offers both a new and different reading of classical Indian texts, and a unique commentary of Kant and Hegel. The book (re)introduces KCB’s philosophy, identifies the novelty of his thinking, and highlights different dimensions of his oeuvre, with special emphasis on freedom as a concept and striving, extending from the metaphysical to the political or the postcolonial. Our contributors aim to decipher KCB’s distinct vocabulary (demand, feeling, alternation). They revisit his discussion of Rasa aesthetics, spotlight the place of the body in his phenomenological inquiry toward “the subject as freedom”, situate him between classics (Abhinavagupta) and thinkers inspired by his thought (Daya Krishna), and discuss his lectures on Sāṃkhya and Yoga rather than projecting KCB as usual solely as a Vedānta scholar. Finally, the contributors seek to clarify if and how KCB’s philosophical work is relevant to the discourse today, from the problem of other minds to freedoms in the social and political spheres.
This book will be of interest to academics studying Indian and comparative philosophy, philosophy of language and mind, phenomenology without borders, and political and postcolonial philosophy.
An Introduction to Indian Philosophy: Perspectives on Reality, Knowledge, and Freedom
By Bina Gupta
Thinkers of the Indian Renaissance
By S A Abbasi
The Fundamentals of K.C. Bhattacharyya’s Philosophy
PUBLISHER: INDIAN COUNCIL OF PHILOSOPHICAL RESEARCH (ICPR), D. K. PRINTWORLD PVT. LTD.
AUTHOR: KALIDAS BHATTACHARYYA
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
EDITION: 2016
ISBN: 9788124608418
PAGES: 220
Three Absolutes and Four Types of Negation
Integrating Krishnachandra Bhattacharyya’s Insights?
By Stephen Kaplan
Chapter in Book
The Making of Contemporary Indian Philosophy
Edition 1st Edition
First Published 2023
Imprint Routledge
Pages 14
eBook ISBN 9781003153320
This title of this chapter ends with a question mark. Did Bhattacharyya elucidate the relationship between his theories of the absolute in three alternatives and his theory that all philosophical thinking is rooted in different types of negation, specifically four types of negation? This chapter examines the key points in Bhattacharyya’s exposition of the four different types of negation. Each type of negation, understood in terms of removing illusion, leads to a different type of philosophy; hence understanding the different forms of negation provides insight into the fundamental differences in philosophical schools. The next challenge is illuminating Bhattacharyya’s formulation of three absolutes – the absolutes related to knowing, willing, and feeling – namely, truth, freedom, and value. Bhattacharyya declares that these absolutes are incompatible with each other, and he does not hide their incompatibility behind a facade of penultimacy. One might assume that his fourfold schema of negations would map onto his three absolutes since he sees each as fundamental to philosophical thinking. But how? How does the three map onto the four and the four map onto the three? That is the challenge this chapter engages, and the answer will be multivalent.
“Contemporary Vedanta Philosophy, I.”
Burch, George.
The Review of Metaphysics 9, no. 3 (1956): 485–504.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/20123522.
“Contemporary Vedanta Philosophy, II.”
Burch, George.
The Review of Metaphysics 9, no. 4 (1956): 662–80.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/20123541.
Search for the Absolute in Neo-Vedanta: The Philosophy of K.C. Bhattacharya
George Burch
https://jainqq.org/booktext/Search_For_Absolute_In_Neo_Vedanta/269279
“Contemporary Vedanta Philosophy, Continued.”
Burch, George.
The Review of Metaphysics 10, no. 1 (1956): 122–57.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/20123558.
“Can the Advaita Vedāntin Provide a Meaningful Definition of Absolute Consciousness?”
Indich, William M.
Philosophy East and West 30, no. 4 (1980): 481–93.
https://doi.org/10.2307/1398973.
“Recent Vedanta Literature.”
Burch, George.
The Review of Metaphysics 12, no. 1 (1958): 68–96.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/20123684.
Subjectivity and absolute : a study of K.C. Bhattacharyya’s philosophy
K.L. Sharma
Jaipur : Aalekh Publishers, 1986
ii, 215 p. ; 22 cm.
Absolute, Self, and Consciousness: A Study in K.C. Bhattacharya’s Philosophy
Author Padmaja Sen
Publisher Progressive Publishers, 1994
Length 142 pages
Search for the Absolute in Neo-Vedanta: K.C. Bhattacharyya
George Burch
The University Press of Hawaii
Honolulu
1976
No. of Pages. 221
K.C. Bhattacharyya
A Philosophical Overview
Daya Krishna
The Making of Contemporary Indian Philosophy
Edition 1st Edition
First Published 2023
Imprint Routledge
eBook ISBN 9781003153320
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003153320-3/bhattacharyya-daya-krishna
ABSTRACT
Daya Krishna’s essay ‘K.C. Bhattacharyya: A Philosophical Overview’ is a compilation of a few paragraphs written by him on K.C. Bhattacharyya (KCB) in two chapters on contemporary Indian philosophy in his books Indian Philosophy: A New Approach (1997) and Developments in Indian Philosophy from Eighteenth Century Onwards (2002). Daya Krishna revisits KCB’s three absolutes and their alternation, and the subject–object relationship at the heart of KCB’s formulation. Original as ever, Daya Krishna depicts KCB’s philosophical project as based on an ‘inverted Hegelian dialectic’, which ‘moves through what may be called a process of identification and de-identification, where each step of de-identification reveals the earlier identification to have been both voluntary and mistaken’. This dialectic, he adds, is rooted in Sāṃkhya philosophy, ‘but it has been given a new turn by K.C. Bhattacharyya’. Daya Krishna does not merely explain this ‘new turn’, but moreover, takes issue with KCB. First, he reminds KCB that even according to his own premises, identification is as free an action as de-identification. Hence, just like KCB’s prescribed de-identification, it conveys a sense of freedom. Second, Daya Krishna appeals for re-identification after de-identification, as he puts it, revealing his own conviction that freedom is found in the back and forth of engagement and disengagement, namely both in engagement and in disengagement at one’s will.
The Concept of Philosophy
BookRevival: Contemporary Indian Philosophy (1936)
Edition 1st Edition
First Published 1936
Imprint Routledge
Pages 24
eBook ISBN 9781315122960
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315122960-4/concept-philosophy-bhattacharyya
Integral Non-dualism: A Critical Exposition of Vijñānabhiksu’s System of Philosophy
Author Kanshi Ram
Publisher Motilal Banarsidass Publishe, 1995
ISBN 8120812123, 9788120812123
Length 189 pages
K.C. Bhattacharyya and Spontaneous Liberation in Sāṃkhya *
ByDimitry Shevchenko
Book
The Making of Contemporary Indian Philosophy
Edition 1st Edition
First Published 2023
Imprint Routledge
Pages 16
eBook ISBN 9781003153320
‘Chapter Four Sri Aurobindo and Krishnachandra Bhattacharyya: Relation between Science and Spiritualism’,
Raghuramaraju, A.,
Debates in Indian Philosophy: Classical, Colonial, and Contemporary (Delhi, 2007; online edn, Oxford Academic, 18 Oct. 2012), https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195693027.003.0004, accessed 2 May 2024.
https://academic.oup.com/book/9053
Studies in Philosophy
Authors Krishnachandra Bhattacharyya, Gopinath Bhattacharyya
Edition reprint
Publisher Motilal Banarsidass, 2017
ISBN 8120829727, 9788120829725
Length 731 pages
https://www.exoticindiaart.com/book/details/studies-in-philosophy-vols-i-and-ii-bound-in-one-nac699
Alternative Standpoints (A Tribute to Kalidas Bhattacharyya)
AUTHOR: MADHUMITA CHATTOPADHYAY
PUBLISHER: SURYODAYA BOOKS
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
EDITION: 2015
ISBN: 9788192570297
Freedom Transcendence And Identity: Essays in memory of Professor Kalidas Bhattacharyya (An Old and Rare book)
PRADIP KUMAR SENGUPTA
PUBLISHER: INDIAN COUNCIL OF PHILOSOPHICAL RESEARCH (ICPR)
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
EDITION: 1988
ISBN: 8120805283
Studies in Philosophy (Vols. I and II Bound in One)
MOTILAL BANARSIDASS PUBLISHERS PVT. LTD.
AUTHOR: KRISHNACHANDRA BHATTACHARYYA
EDITION: 2023
ISBN: 9788120829725
PAGES: 772
COVER: HARDCOVER
https://www.exoticindiaart.com/book/details/studies-in-philosophy-vols-i-and-ii-bound-in-one-nac699/
These Studies in Phi1osoplr represents all the published and only a few unpublished writings of Krishnachandra Bhattacharyya. These published writings date back 1908, but his characteristic philosophical position assumes definite shape in the writings during the years 1928-36. The publications of the period outnumber and far our weigh those that fall during the previous twenty years Of the twenty- one tracts published first in two separate Volumes, which in this edition appear as bound together in one, fourteen belong to this period, the others covering the previous years.
Prof Bhattacharyya had a deep study of an dent Indian philosophy, particularly of Advaita Vedanta, Sankhya, Yoga and Jam Philosophies. Vol 1, contains Prof. Bhattacharyya’s constructive interpretation of these systems. He was also well-versed in classical German Philosophy, particularly that of Kant. Hi vast and deep study provided the intellectual background in the light of which his profoundly original mind could go on with the work of construction. He constructed a new system of his own which however is not easy to comprehend. VOL II contains all the basic writings in which Prof. Bhattacharyya’s philosophy has been formulated. In the Introduction to this Volume the Editor has usefully analysed the Author’s philosophical position in some detail.
Krishnachandra Bhattacharyya was born on 12th May, 1875. He graduated with triple Honours in 1896 and was awarded the P.R.S. of the Calcutta University in 1901. His academic record during the School and College periods was uniformly excellent.
Bhattacharyya joined the Education Department of Government of Bengal as a lecturer in Philosophy in 1898 and after serving with great distinction as a teacher of Philosophy in about all the Government Colleges of Bengal, he retired in 1930. He joined the Indian Institute of Philosophy at Amalner as its Director and remained there from 1933 to 1935. He was the George V Professor of Mental & Moral Philosophy at the Calcutta University from 1935 to 1937. He died on 11th December, 1940.
Prof. Bhattacharyya possessed a profoundly original mind and an acute analytical intellect. He will always be held in high esteem by the successive generations of thinkers for his significant contribution to Philosophy. Editor’s Preface to Vol. I
These ‘Studies in Philosophy’ represent all the published and only a few of the unpublished philosophical writings of Krishnachandra Bhattacharyya. There remains over an immense mass of manuscripts which will, perhaps, remain unpublished for all time to come.
The present volumes comprise the following tracts: –
Vol. I
1. Studies in Vedantism (Published in 1907)
2. 2. Sankara’s doctrine of Maya ( ,, 1925)
3. The Advaita and its spiritual significance ( ,, 1936)
4. Studies in Samkhya Philosophy (Unpublished)
5. Studies in Yoga Philosophy ( ,, )
6. The Jaina theory of Anekanta (Published in 1925)
7. The Concept of Rasa (Unpublished)Vol. II
1. The Subject as Freedom (Published in 1930)
2. The Concept of Philosophy ( ,, 1936)
3. The Concept of the Absolute and its alternative forms ( ,, 1934)
4. Studies in Kant (Unpublished)
5. Some aspects of negation (Published in 1914)
6. The place of the indefinite in Logic ( ,, 1916)
7. Definition of ‘Relation’ as a category of existence (Unpublished)
8. Fact and thought of fact (Published in 1931)
9. Knowledge and Truth ( ,, 1928)
10. Correction of error as a logical process ( ,, 1931)
11. The false and the subjective ( ,, 1932)
12. The objective interpretation of percept and image ( ,, 1936)
13. The Concept of Value ( ,, 1934)
14. The reality of the future (Unpublished)Each of the above tracts is preceded by an Analysis. The first one was made by the author himself and the others have been done by the editor. Of the foot notes those marked in numerals are by the editor.
In presenting these studies the editor is happy to offer his most grateful thanks to the enterprising publisher. Sree Sushil Kumar Basu, the proprietor of Messrs. Progressive Publishers. It was he who very generously volunteered to undertake the publication of the book and see it through the press.
My warm thanks are also due to Professor G. R. Malkani. the Director of the Indian Institute of Philosophy, Amalner (Bombay) for his ready permission to reprint ‘The Subject as Freedom’ which was originally published by the Institute; to Dr. S. Radhakrishnan and Messrs. George Allen & Unwin Ltd. for their kind permission to reprint from their- ‘Contemporary Indian Philosophy’ the essay ‘‘[he Concept of Philosophy’; and to the R. K. Mission for their permission to reprint ‘The Advaita and its spiritual significance’ which first appeared in their ‘Cultural Heritage of India’. The editor is also obliged to a pupil of his and to his daughter for their assistance in preparing the copy for the press.
It is very much regretted that a number of typographical errors have crept in spite of earnest endeavours to avoid them. In the ‘Errata’ at the end of the volume, only the major errors have been listed and corrected. Editor’s Preface to Vol. II
The second volume of Studies in Philosophy is now presented after about twenty months since the issue of the first volume. For this inordinate delay the Editor alone is responsible. The Publisher tried his level best to expedite the publication, but owing to a number of circumstances which were beyond the control of the Editor, it was not found possible to bring it out at an earlier date.
This volume contains the fourteen tracts mentioned in the Preface to Vol. I, but in a slightly varied order. As in the case of the other volume, the order is not a chronological one.
In (I) The Subject as Freedom, the author works out his conception of Spiritual Psychology and the theory of the subject as freedom, and attempts to trace out the progressive stages of cognitional freedom. In (2) The Concept of Philosophy we have an analysis of the nature of philosophy and the conception of Philosophy as symbolic thinking not amounting to knowledge. (3) The Concept of the A absolute and its Alternative Forms elaborates the doctrine of the trinal absolute. (4) In Knowledge and Truth, we have an analysis of the distinctive level of consciousness occupied by theory of knowledge and of the theory of the mutual implication of knowledge and truth. (5) Fact and Thought of Fact attempts to give a definition of fact without assuming any fact and seeks to establish the position that fact does not admit of an impersonal definition. (6) In Correction of Error as a Logical Process, the author develops the Advaita theory of illusion and emphasises that correction is an epistemic function without any unitary logical content and that falsity has no reference to the time- position of cognition. In (7) The False and the Subjective, the author elaborates the thesis that the false and the subjective imply one another. In (8) Some Aspects of Negation, the author presents a nonsubjectivistic interpretation of the position that ‘truth is manifold’ and tries to establish that there are radically different types of logic based on incommensurable views of negation. (9) Place of the bide finite in Logic lays down the thesis that the indefinite is not merely a subjective entity and that logic should find a place for the absolute indefinite.
(10) In Definition of Relation as a Category of Existence, an attempt has been made to formulate a definition of ‘relation’ in purely objective terms as against the subjectivistic interpretation of Green and others. In (II) Objective Interpretation of the Percept and Image, an attempt has been made to translate the subjective terms ‘perceived’ and ‘un-perceived’ into objective terms. (12) In Reality of the Future the author develops the thesis that the reality of the future expected on a known ground cannot be said to be an object of knowledge and that the future is real only to will and to faith. (13) The Concept of Value gives an analysis of the concept of value in its different forms, and establishes the position that value is absolute and that speak ability of value as information is a necessary illusion. (l4) The Studies in Kant gives us a speculative interpretation of a number of Kantian themes. As with the other constructive interpretations contained in Vol. I, we have here also quite a large number of improvisations.
In the Introduction to this volume, the Editor has made an attempt to analyse the major philosophical doctrines of Krishnachandra Bhattacharyya. The analysis has been done, as far as possible, in the author’s own words. This is for two reasons: first, the Editor was not sure that he had got at the exact logic of Krishnachandra’s writings in a large number of places; secondly, and this is to some extent connected with the first, he felt that his own language was far less effective and elegant than that of the author, even when the latter’s manner of presentation was quite thoroughly severe.
The Editor regrets that he has not been able to capture the inspiration or the insight that saturates almost all the writings of his father. It is because of this that he has all along felt that it was presumptuousness on his part to have undertaken this editorial work.
The Editor feels that he would be failing in gratitude if he did not emphasis that all the credit for this publication belongs to his friend, Sri Sushil Kumar Basu of Progressive Publishers. The under- taking would never have been completed but for his unfailing generosity, constant encouragement and spirit of dedication.
Contents
Volume I Preface to the Second Edition v Abbreviations xvi Editor’s Introduction to vols. I & II xvii 1. Studies in Vedantism Introduction 1 Analysis 7 Text: Ch. I. An Approach Through Psychology 11 Ch. II. Vedantic Metaphysics 31 Ch. III. Vedantic Logic 69 2. Sankara’s Doctrine of Maya Analysis 93 Text 95 3. The Advaita and Its Spiritual Significance Analysis 109 Text 113 4. Studies in Sankhya Philosophy Preface 127 Analysis 129 Text: Ch. I. Pain as Evil 135 Ch. II. Reflection as a Spiritual Function 143 Ch. III. The Body of the Self 151 Ch. IV. Causal and Non-Causal Manifestation 158 Ch. V. Time, Space and Causality 165 Ch. VI. The Objective Tattvas 173 Ch. VII. The Objective Tattvas (Contd.) 181 Ch. VIII. The Self or Purusa 190 Ch. IX. Prakrti 198 Ch. X. Relation of the Gunas 207 5. Studies in Yoga Philosophy Analysis 215 Text: Ch. I. Sankhya and Yoga 221 Ch. II. ,, ,, (Contd.) 231 Ch. III. ,, ,, (Contd.) 240 Ch. IV. Buddhi-Vrtti 251 Ch. V. ,, ,, (Contd.) 262 Ch. VI. Five Levels of Buddhi 273 Ch. VII. The Nature of Yoga 283 Ch. III. The Kinds of Yoga 293 Ch. IX. The Procedure of Yoga 305 Ch. X. The Notion of Isvara 317 6. The Jaina Theory of Anekanta Analysis 329 Text 331 7. The Concept of Rasa Analysis 347 Text 349 Vol. II 1. The Subject as Freedom Analysis 367 Text: Ch. I. The Notion of Subjectivity 381 Ch. II. Psychic Fact 396 Ch. III. Bodily Subjectivity (The Body as Perceived and Felt) 412 Ch. IV. Bodily Subjectivity (Contd.) (Knowledge of Absence as a Present Fat) 417 Ch. V. Psychic Subjectivity (The Image) 424 Ch. VI. Psychic Subjectivity (Contd.) (Thought) 431 Ch. VII. Spiritual Subjectivity (Contd.) (Feeling) 435 Ch. VIII. Spiritual Subjectivity (Contd.) (Introspection) 442 Ch. IX. Spiritual Subjectivity (Contd.) (Beyond Introspection) 446 Ch. X. The Subject as Freedom 450 2. The Concept of Philosophy Analysis 457 Text 462 3. The Concept of the Absolute and its alternative forms Analysis 483 Text 447 4. Knowledge and Truth Analysis 509 Text 513 5. Fact and Thought of Fact Analysis 529 Text 531 6. Correction of Error as a logical process Analysis 543 Text 545 7. The false and the subjective Analysis 55 Text 557 8. Some Aspects of Negation Analysis 567 Text 569 9. Place of the Indefinite in Logic Analysis 583 Text 587 10. The Definition of relation as a category of existence Analysis 605 Text 607 11. Objective Interpretation of Percept and Image Analysis 623 Text 625 12. Reality of the Future Analysis 633 Text 635 13. The Concept of Value Analysis 643 Text 649 14. Studies in Kant Text: Ch. I. Idea of Transcendental Philosophy 663 Ch. II. Mind as Phenomenon 669 Ch. III. Sense and Sensation 674 Ch. IV. Space, Time, and Causality 679 Ch. V. Causality 686 Ch. VI. Judgments of Fact, Value and Ought-to-be 694 Ch. VII. Freedom and Morality 702 Analysis 712 Appendix 721 A. Transcendental Method 721 B. On the Sensum
Viewpoints which Matter 