Book description
Peter Adamson and Jonardon Ganeri present a lively introduction to one of the world's richest intellectual traditions: the philosophy of classical India. They begin with the earliest extant literature, the Vedas, and the explanatory works that these inspired, known as Upanisads. They also discuss other famous texts of classical Vedic…
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Why read it?
1 author picked Classical Indian Philosophy as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Peter Adamson’s fantastic and long-running podcast A History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps is also a book series.
My favourite is the introduction to Indian thought, a subject that badly needed an accessible overview. Each chapter is a short taster on a major thinker or aspect of Indian philosophy, laced with Adamson’s trademark drollery. It begins with the ancient Vedas and encompasses Jain and Buddhist thought going up to the sixth century AD.
As someone brought up in the Western philosophical tradition, I found the explanations of Indian ideas thought-provoking and fascinating.
From James' list on The best books about how non-western cultures think about the world.
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