Approaches to The Real in Contemporary India

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Man's inquisitiveness to know about the "Real" has its origin in the philosophical traditions of the West and the East alike. For the ancient Greeks, the Real was metaphysical in nature and they sought to determine the nature of the real through the teachings of philosophers like Aristotle. These views later found place in the philosophy of many Christian fathers of the medieval period.

With the Renaissance, the Western philosophy underwent an epistemic turn, so also discussions on the Real. In Indian philosophical heritage, the classical Indian philosophers of different philosophical systems too tried to grasp the concept of the Real from different theoretical frameworks and envisaged certain conclusions.

The articles presented in this volume focus on those issues of the Real which have been treated and discussed by the philosophers of contemporary India such as K.C. Bhattacharyya, Surendranath Dasgupta, S. Radhakrishnan, Ras-Vihari Das, P.T. Raju, Satchidananda Murty and J.N. Mohanty. It also gives a glimpse on Professor Mohanty's view on the Einstein-Tagore controversy.

Soumitra Basu is a Professor in the Department of Philosophy, Jadavpur University, Kolkata. His areas of interest are Philosophy of Psychology, Wellbeing Studies, Contemporary Indian Philosophy, Political Philosophy and Applied Ethics. He has edited Aspects of Interpersonal Communication and his co- edited volumes include Determinants of Perception, Spirituality and Well-Being and Ethical Issues in Psychotherapy.

Maitreyee Datta is an Associate Professor of Philosophy, Jadavpur University, Kolkata. Her areas of interest are Philosophy of Time, Metaphysics, Buddhism, Continental Philosophy and Contemporary Indian Philosophy. She has published many articles in journals of global repute and contributed chapters to edited volumes of well-known scholars.

THIS volume is a product of an initiative taken by the members of the Contemporary Indian Philosophy research group of the Centre of Advanced Study in Philosophy, Jadavpur University. The members of this group are keen on bringing out the views of the stalwart academic philosophers of contemporary India on Reality, Man and the World, and also to develop a critical understanding of these views. The focus of this volume is on the contemporary Indian views regarding the nature of the real. Three members of this group have contributed to this volume along with other leading philosophers of India who are placed in positions of high esteem relating to current Indian academia for their scholarship and contribution to research. We express our gratitude to all the contributors for their cooperation.

We are thankful to the University Grants Commission (UGC) for providing financial support for this publication. We are grateful to Professor Raghunath Ghosh, former faculty of North Bengal University, and Professor Sabita Samanta of West Bengal State University, for their kind observations regarding the worth of this volume.

We are also thankful to Jadavpur University for all sorts of administrative support.

SINCE ages the issues relating to the real occupy a central place in philosophy. In ancient time, Greek philosophers started entertaining queries regarding the ultimate stuff of the world. In this context we can mention the name of Thales, the Greek philosopher, who has been taken to be the first philosopher who asked "What is the ultimate stuff of this world?" Such queries can be taken as the initial formulations of the questions regarding the nature of the real. Though "philosophy" gradually acquires new meanings with passing time, this enquiry concerning the real persists by adopting different forms. In the ancient Greece the issue relating to the real was metaphysical in nature. In other words, Greek philosophers sought to determine the nature of the real.

During medieval time Aristotle's views on different topics have been admitted by the church authorities and most of the philosophers of this period in a way accepted these views authenticated by the church.

Later on with the emergence of Renaissance as modernity dawned in the West, philosophy has taken an epistemic turn and the issue concerning the real underwent a modification. Philosophers of this time, being primarily epistemologists, focused their attention to determine different sources by which they could know the real. They sought to discuss the sources of knowledge by virtue of which they could grasp the real.