Philosophical Reflections (Revised and Enlarged Edition)

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In this work, the author reflects on some aspects of Indian philosophy, especially on points connected with Buddhism, Vedanta, and Values. Although his approach towards reflection is primarily philosophical and fundamentally analytical in character, the author, in this work, does not confine himself to what may be called 'hardcore' analytical philosophy in elucidating notions of 'common-ism', 'values', etc. the method adopted is still analytical and critical. And even when he is engaged in assessing critically the specific nature of the contribution of various types of analytical philosophy, he ventures into what he considers to be 'free thinking', free not from a logical point of view but from the compelling images of 'hard core' analytic thought.

The author has taken care to revise the already existing eighteen chapters of the earlier edition whose contents, however, remain more or less unchanged, while he has added three more chapters in this revised and enlarged second edition.

G.C. Nayak, born and brought up at Cuttack (Orissa), India, was the best graduate of Utkal Univeristy in 1954, 1^st Class 1^st M.A. (Philosophy) at Allahabad in 1956, and got his Ph.D. from the Bristol University, U.K. as a Commonwealth scholar in the year 1965. He was Professor and Head of the Post-Graduate Department of Philosophy of Utkal University from 1978 to 1989 and the Vice-Chancellor of Sri Jagannath Sanskrit Vishvavidyalaya, Puri from 1989 to 1992, Visiting Professor in the Department of Buddhist Studies and Philosophy at Nagarjuna University from 1992 to 1994, and in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada in 1995, he was the Senior Fellow, ICPR during 1996-98, and UGC Emeritus Fellow, at BHU, Varanasi during 1999-2000. Presently, he is a Fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla since 2001.

Professor Nayak has been the General President of the Indian Philosophical Congress in 1992, and of the Akhil Bharatiya Darshan Parishad in 2001.

Some of his important publications are Evil, Karma, and Reincarnation (1973), Essays in Analytical Philosophy (1978), Analytical Studies in Buddhist Philosophy (edited) (1984), Philosophical Reflections (1987), Nehru and Indian Culture (edited) (1990), Evil and the Retributive Hypothesis (1993), Philosophical Enterprise and the Scientific Spirit (1994), Understanding Religious Phenomenon (1997), and Madhyamika Sunyata (2001).

It gives me great delight to see that the book Philosophical Reflections is having a Second edition. It has been particularly gratifying for me to find that the first edition was received fairly well by the learned scholars in the field. What more a person given to philosophical reflections in his characteristic way, a constant beginner and a learner after all as I am, could expect from the world of philosophy and philosophers as a reward, so to say? This has vary naturally encouraged me to add three more essays (chapters 16, 19 and 20) which are predominantly critical and analytical of course, to this edition. I have also taken care to revise the already existing eighteen essays of the earlier edition, whose contents, however, remain more or less unchanged. I shall be only glad to receive suggestions and criticism from the learned scholars for improving upon this edition in future to the best of my capacity.

My heartfelt gratitude to the authorities of the ICPR for undertaking the publication of the second revised and enlarged edition. I am particularly indebted to the member-secretary, Professor R.C Pradhan, but for whose able supervision and constant cooperation, this edition could never have come to light. My sincerest thanks are due to Dr. Mercy Helen, Director-in-Charge, ICPR, for her ungrudging help at different stages of publication of the second edition. I am grateful to Professor Dayakrishna have been so very encouraging for me in respect of my philosophical reflections. To Professor D.P. Chattopadhyaya I owe my deepest gratitude for his continuous and sustained encouragement as well as unfailing inspiration throughout till date since those good old days when the volume saw the light of the day for the first time with his goodwill.

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