• aesthetics

  / India
• atomism

  / Atomism in the thought of India
• dualism

  / India
• ethics

  / India
• Hinduism

  / Philosophical texts
• idealism

  / The mystical argument
• individualism
• Arthur Schopenhauer

  / Active maturity
• creation myth

  / The unknowability of creation

General

S.N. Dasgupta, A History of Indian Philosophy, 5 vol. (1922–55, reprinted 1977), a comprehensive account, though its scholarship tends to outweigh philosophical insight; M. Hiriyanna, Outlines of Indian Philosophy (1932, reissued 1975), lucidly written, based on reliable acquaintance with original source material but leaving out many minor, though important, schools of thought; S. Radhakrishnan, Indian Philosophy, 2 vol. (1923–27), a very readable account written from an idealistic point of view—may often mislead; S.C. Vidyabhusan, A History of the Mediæval School of Indian Logic (1909), still indispensable, though outdated and containing many inaccuracies; U.N. Ghoshal, A History of Indian Political Ideas: The Ancient Period and the Period of Transition to the Middle Ages (1959); Donald H. Bishop (ed.), Indian Thought: An Introduction (1975), 15 historical essays by Indian scholars; Balbir Singh, The Conceptual Framework of Indian Philosophy (1976), a study of 12 fundamental concepts; Karl H. Potter (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies (1970– ), a very valuable source. For current articles on Indian philosophy, see Philosophy East and West (quarterly) and The Journal of Indian Philosophy (quarterly).

Critical studies from the point of view of modern Western thought

Karl H. Potter, Presuppositions of India’s Philosophies (1963, reprinted 1976); Ninian Smart, Doctrine and Argument in Indian Philosophy (1964); and B.K. Matilal, Epistemology, Logic and Grammar in Indian Philosophical Analysis (1971), three books that, together, form a good introduction to the logical, dialectical, and analytical aspects of Indian philosophy; Kewal Krishan Mittal, Materialism in Indian Thought (1974).

English translations of Sanskrit sources

S. Radhakrishnan and C.A. Moore (eds.), A Source Book in Indian Philosophy (1957), an excellent one-volume collection of source materials (does not include many medieval masterpieces on logic and epistemology); The Thirteen Principal Upanishads, 2nd ed., trans. by R.E. Hume (1931); The Bhagavadgita, trans. by S. Radhakrishnan (1948).

Selected readings on the systems and texts

(Upaniṣads): Arun Shourie, Hinduism, Essence and Consequence: A Study of the Upanishads, the Gita, and the Brahma-Sutras (1980), an analysis and assessment of Brahmanical Hinduism; R.D. Ranade, A Constructive Survey of Upanishadic Philosophy, 2nd ed. (1968). (Bhagavadgītā): Sri Aurobindo, Essays on the Gita (1916–20, reissued 1974). (Mahābhārata): Edward W. Hopkins, The Great Epic of India (1901, reprinted 1973). (Cārvākas and Ājīvikas): Dakshinaranjan Shastri, A Short History of Indian Materialism, Sensationalism and Hedonism (1930); Dale Riepe, Early Indian Philosophical Materialism (1954); A.L. Basham, The History and Doctrines of the Ājīvikas (1951, reprinted 1981). (Buddhism): Benimadhab Barua, Prolegomena to a History of Buddhist Philosophy, 2nd ed. (1974); David J. Kalupahana, Buddhist Philosophy: A Historical Analysis (1976); A.L. Herman, An Introduction to Buddhist Thought: A Philosophic History of Indian Buddhism (1983); Th. Stcherbatsky, Buddhist Logic, 2 vol. (Eng. trans. 1930–32, reissued 1970), a work of great scholarship, marred by too-hasty comparisons with 19th-century European philosophers, and containing an English translation of Dharmakīrti’s Nyayavindu; T.R.V. Murty, The Central Philosophy of Buddhism (1955, reissued 1980); (Mīmāmsā): A. Berriedale Keith, Karma-mīmāmsā (1921, reprinted 1978); P. Shastri, Introduction to the Pūrva Mīmāmsā, 2nd ed. (1980). (Vedānta): Eric J. Lott, Vedantic Approaches to God (1980), a clear introduction to the religious philosophies of Vedānta; Jacob Kattackal, Religion and Ethics in Advaita (1980, reprinted 1982); T.M.P. Mahadevan, Gaudapāda: A Study in Early Advaita (1952; 4th ed., 1975); Eliot Deutsch, Advaita Vedānta: A Philosophical Reconstruction (1969, reissued 1973); P.N. Srinivasachari, The Philosophy of Viśiṣtādvaita (1943, reprinted 1973). (Vaiṣṇavism and Śaivism): R.G. Bhandarkar, Vaiṣṇavism, Śaivism and Minor Religious Systems (1913, reissued 1980). (Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika): H. Ui, The Vaiśeṣhika Philosophy, 2nd ed. (1962); N.S. Junankar, Gautama: The Nyāya Philosophy (1978); S.C. Chatterjee, Nyāya Theory of Knowledge (1939); D.H. Ingalls, Materials for the Study of Navya-Nyāya Logic (1951); J.N. Mohanty (trans.), Gangesa’s Theory of Truth (1966); B.K. Matilal, The Navya-Nyāya Doctrine of Negation (1969). (Sāṃkhya-Yoga): S.N. Dasgupta, The Study of Patanjali (1920); Mircea Eliade, Yoga: Immortality and Freedom, 2nd ed. (1969; originally published in French, 1954); Karel Werner, Yoga and Indian Philosophy (1977), a wide-ranging introduction. (Mughal philosophy): Azlz Ahmad, Studies in Islamic Culture in the Indian Environment (1964).

Contemporary Indian philosophy

S. Radhakrishnan, The Reign of Religion in Contemporary Philosophy (1920); Rabindranath Tagore, Religion of Man (1931, reprinted 1981); S. Radhakrishnan, Eastern Religions and Western Thought (1939, reissued 1974); Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine (1949, reissued 1982); S. Radhakrishnan and J.H. Muirhead (eds.), Contemporary Indian Philosophy, 2nd ed. (1952); P.T. Raju, Idealistic Thought of India (1953, reprinted 1973); Kalidas Bhattacharyya, Studies in Philosophy, 2 vol. (1956–58), and (ed.), Recent Indian Philosophy (1962), and Philosophical Papers (1969); G. Misra, Analytical Studies in Indian Philosophical Problems (1970); K.S. Murty and K.R. Rao (eds.), Current Trends in Indian Philosophy (1972); Margaret Chatterjee (ed.), Contemporary Indian Philosophy (1974); J.N. Mohanty, “Philosophy in India: 1967–1973,” Review of Metaphysics, 28:54–84 (1974); N.K. Devaraja (ed.), Indian Philosophy Today (1975); Dale Riepe, Indian Philosophy Since Independence (1979), an assessment from the perspective of historical and dialectical materialism; T.M.P. Mahadevan and G.V. Saroja, Contemporary Indian Philosophy (1981), brief accounts of the lives and thought of eight philosophers of the first half of the 20th century.