Kalidas Bhattacharyya (The Builders of Indian Philosophy Series)

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From the Jacket:

Among the academic philosophers who built up the edifice of contemporary Indian philosophy, Kalidas Bhattacharyya holds a unique position in respect of originality as well as breadth of creative thinking. Joining critical analysis and methodology with constructive insights, he introduced an in depth comparative approach in interpreting the Indian philosophical tradition, while offering a framework of metaphysics on fresh grounds. The present author, in this study of Bhattacharyya's subtle and wide-ranging thought from a close quarter, highlights its major strands and traces the course of its development in its different phases. The distinctive character of his philosophizing in brought into focus, while at the same time interpreting the significance and relevance of Bhattacharyya's philosophical contribution for the present-day thinking and culture. The work combings sympathetic understanding with critical analysis in presenting Kalidas Bhattacharyya in the perspective of a total philosopher of his generation, and for generations to follow.

About the Author:

Debabrata Sinha, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, Brock University (Canada), took his Master's degree and Ph.D. in Philosophy from Calcutta University - advanced studies and doctoral work (interpretation of Advaita Vedanta) with Prof. Kalidas Bhattacharyya. Post-doctoral studies in Phenomenology in Germany (as Fellow, Alexander von Humboldt-Foundation) and in related areas of Continental thought. Taught Philosophy in Calcutta University, Presidency College, Calcutta, etc., and in University of Mainz, before joining Brock University as Full Professor. Ongoing work of thematic-comparative orientations of the Vedantic base on lines of phenomenological hermeneutics. Author of: Metaphysic of Experience in Advaita Vedanta, Studies in Phenomenology, Understanding in Human Context: Themes and Variations in Indian Philosophy, etc. and has published widely in journals, collections and special numbers, relating to phenomenology, Vedanta, etc. and on allied themes of philosophical anthropology, culture, etc.

About the Series:

The Philosophical concepts and categories associated with Sankhya, Vaisesika, carvaka, Jaina, and Bauddha systems are as old as the Vedas. However, the formulation of different systems must have taken place later on. Unfortunately, we do not know about the historical development of these ideas prior to the systematic presentation of them in the form of sutras (aphorisms) which serve as the basic text for each of these schools. Because of the brevity of the sutras, it is difficult to understand the sutra-work without the help of a commentary. Then came the commentaries and sub-commentaries of various kinds on the texts, all of them being interconnected starting from the basic sutra text. Texts, both expository and polemical, were written defending the basic doctrines of each system and also criticizing the views of other systems; and these texts are also commentaries.

A commentary is much more than an exegesis. It is also creative while doing the work of interpretation. The text taken up for interpretation has a context or horizon of its own; the interpreter, too, has a horizon of his/her own. The interaction between the two horizons is a basic element in every kind of interpretation. This interaction between the two horizons, which goes on whenever a text is explained, "enriches" the text and makes it both purportful and purposive. So a commentary is as much original as the text it is commenting on. Indian philosophy was built and developed, strengthened and shaped by the commentarial tradition.

Contemporary Indian philosophy, academic as well as non-academic, have enriched the tradition in several ways. Like classical commentators, they are "builders" of Indian philosophy in the two areas of pure and applied philosophy. The monographs in this series called "Builders of Indian Philosophy" are intended to elucidate and highlight their contribution to Indian Philosophy.