Nevertheless, it is surely true that these early materials inform the entire subsequent course of Indian philosophy. This is true partly insofar as the Indian philosophical traditions are basically scholastic in character -- that is, philosophical thought is generally advanced in Indian contexts by way of commentarial elaborations of some foundational textual tradition taken as authoritative. But it is also true insofar as a great many of the issues debated in later Indian philosophy -- issues concerning the nature of the self, the status of theism, and (what was developed with particular sophistication in India) the nature of linguistic meaning -- can be said to stem from divergent intuitions first laid down in the earliest, quasi-philosophical texts. Thus, while these foundational texts reflect styles of reasoning that differ significantly from the more formal styles that later come to dominate Indian philosophy, early texts from the two most sharply divergent traditions of early Indian speculative thought -- viz., Brahmanical and Buddhist -- can be seen to lay down many of the positions and intuitions that will remain at stake in more formalized debate.

We will first consider something of the context for the contemporary study of Indian philosophy, then proceeding to survey some of the importantly divergent texts of the early Brahmanical and Buddhist traditions. We will also consider the emergence and early development of some of the canonical "schools" or (more literally) "perspectives" (darsanas) that provide the principal rubrics for later philosophical discourse. In particular, we will consider some of the early literature of the Samkhya and Purva Mimamsa schools, as well as that of early traditions of Indian Buddhist thought. Along the way, we will try to appreciate such issues as: whether anything distinguishes these various traditions as commonly exemplifying Indian philosophy; some of the discursive, pedagogical, and spiritual practices of which these texts might be artifacts; and what kinds of things we might expect to see change as the traditions mature.

The principal aim throughout will be to study these developments philosophically, which is among other things to say that we will concerned to ask what all might be entailed by (thought not yet explicitly said either for or against) the various positions considered. I propose, in this regard, that we might usefully characterize "philosophical" thought as most generally concerned to press claims for their inferential consequences -- concerned to ask, that is, what else must be true for any one claim to make sense.

-- Patrick Olivelle, trans., Upanisads
-- Laurie Patton, trans., The Bhagavad Gita
-- J. N. Mohanty, Classical Indian Philosophy

All other assigned and recommended readings are on reserve at Regenstein Library, with nearly all selections available on electronic reserve through Chalk. In addition, students may wish to be aware of the invaluable bibliographic resource that is the Bibliography volume of Karl Potter, ed., Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, which is continuously updated.