Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 18:72 (Oct 1861)
Article: A Sketch Of Hindu Philosophy
Author: David C. Scudder

BSac 18:72 (Oct 1861) p. 673

A Sketch Of Hindu Philosophy

Rev. David C. Scudder

In a previous Article we endeavored to trace the history of philosophy in India from its origin in the speculative writings of the Vedic age until it assumed its earliest scientific form in the Sânkhya system, and a later and practical development in the Buddhistic reformation and the theistic Yoga philosophy. We recognized in the rationalistic Sânkhya philosophy a speculative reaction against the extreme ritualistic tendencies of the age in which it arose, and in Buddhism a moral reform, which was at bottom a bold protest against the arrogant pretensions of a favored class, and which sought to substitute a rigid moral code without a religion in the place of an effeminate superstition which enslaved the masses, while the Yoga philosophy found an explanation in considering it as an attempt to unite the deductions of reason with the received dogmas of religion, and thus restore the broken harmony between the priesthood

BSac 18:72 (Oct 1861) p. 674

and the people. There is good reason to believe that the order in which we considered these developments was the order of history, reasoning mainly from internal affinities between them: but we come now to consider a system of philosophy, or pair of systems, whose position in history is a little more uncertain, but which we are justified in placing between the Sânkhya and the latest system, the Vedanta.

These two systems are the Vaiseshika and Nyâya. The former of these has for its reputed author, Kanâda, and is distinctively a system of physics. The latter is attributed to one Gôtama, and frequently passes under the title of Hindu Logic. But this title of Logic is a misnomer, and has gained Gôtama a deal of undeserved condemnation, given under the impression that he preferred to give a complete exposition of the laws of thought. At the same time, the Nyâya does pay special attention to the principles of logic, and as a system enjoys a high repute in India, being the first system which engages the attention of the young student of philosophy.

These two systems are even more closely allied than are the Sânkhya and Yoga, and we shall accordingly consider them together.

The original Sûtras of Gôtama are given us by Dr. Ballantyne, together with an illustrative commentary.1 He has also translated a succinct compendium embracing both the Nyâya and Vaiseshika systems,2 and has published a synopsis of science based on the Nyâya, for use in the Benares college.3 Dr. Röer, secretary of the oriental department of the Bengal Asi...