Philosophy in Classical India

Jonardon Ganeri read mathematics at Cambridge before pursuing graduate studies in philosophy at London and Oxford. He is the author a dozen books about Indian philosophy. He joined the Fellowship of the British Academy in 2015 and won the Infosys Prize in the Humanities the same year, the only philosopher to do so. He delivered the 2024 John Locke Lectures at the University of Oxford, entitled Seeing and Subjectivity (2027). He is currently Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto.

Praise for the First Edition:'... a brilliant contribution to the study of some of the basic questions of classical Indian Philosophy, and at the same time quite a convincing presentation of new philosophical paradigms ... What is striking in Ganeri's work is the commendable combination of sound grasp of the Sanskrit texts with outstanding interpretive skills. There is no doubt that the book will be acknowledged as a pathfinder in the interpretation of classical Indian Philosophy.' - John Vattanky, Nagoya Studies in Indian Culture and Buddhism'This is a remarkable piece of scholarship and an absolute pleasure to read. What makes this work so outstanding is that the author is both an extremely accomplished philosopher as well as being proficient in the Indian source languages.' - John Peacock'I cannot think of any book in English with such a wide coverage of Indian philosophy written with so much originality, accessibility and grounding in the texts.' - Arindam Chakrabarti, University of Hawaii, USA'Ganeri has a highly developed knack for discovering issues of relevance to contemporary philosophical discussions as well as a profound knowledge of the Indian philosophical traditions and the modern scholarly studies on them, [and] this monograph should be of great interest to the Indologist and to the reader conversant in contemporary trends of Western philosophy who is also interested in Classical Indian thought… The value of Ganeri’s book is greatly increased by the fact that in addition to a judicious selection of materials and their interpretations that are already known to the specialist, the author offers new solutions to difficult points.' - Horst Lasic, University of Vienna, Austria'One of the most remarkable qualities of this book is that it can be profitably read by anyone with some philosophical sophistication. It requires special knowledge neither of India nor of Sanskrit. … This book is a delight to read. It is eminently readably by the non-expert and contributes to the growing literature which takes the philosophical content of these texts seriously, presenting novel interpretations of their many vexatious passages. Whether you are a specialist in the field or a novice to Indian thought, as long as you have an appetite for philosophy you will find it rewarding.' - Brendan Gillon, McGill University, Canada'Philosophy in Classical India is a brave and challenging book. In my view, it is among the most thought provoking and philosophically sophisticated discussions of Sanskrit philosophy to date…It is among the very few books that can be read with interest, profit, and enjoyment by professional philosophers, and if my own informal survey has any merit it is a book that will go a long way towards convincing those who still need to be convinced that Sanskrit philosophy deserves to be part of any philosophy curriculum. Ganeri’s work will also begin to teach professional philosophers how to think about, and with, Sanskrit texts in their own idiom, and will hopefully encourage them to seek out and study the available translations for themselves.' - Parimal Patil, Harvard University, USA

• Preface to the Second Edition Introduction 1. The Motive and Method of Rational Inquiry 2. Rationality, Emptiness and the Objective View 3. The Rational Basis of Metaphysics 4. Reduction, Exclusion and Rational Reconstruction 5. Rationality, Harmony and Perspective 6. Reason in Equilibrium 7. Balance and Repost in Public Reason 8. Practical Reason and the Use of Particulars as Prototypes. Notes Texts Bibliography Index