The most Radical thinkers produced by India

 

 

The most Radical thinkers produced by India.

First principle thinking- Why did we lose this amazing superpower?

Each of these thinkers opened a new branch of learning or caused paradigm shifts in prevalent thinking of society-or sometimes- the whole species. Clarity on chronology-even if imperfect-helps you appreciate the evolution of the Indic intellect

1. "Whence came this creation?

Did he create it, or did he not?

He who surveys in the highest heaven knows.

Or perhaps he may not know...."

-Parameṣṭhi Prajāpati~2000 BCE

Rig Veda 10.129

History's first Skeptic

2. "There is only one supreme god. Ahura Mazdā"

-Atharvan Zaratuštra~1900 BCE

(North west frontier province-Rangha/Bactria)

The first monotheist

Influenced Judaism

Contributive to Indo-Iranian civil war & permanent schism

Destinies of the last two IE tribes diverged forever

3. "The self is gradually revealed in creatures. Among animals, man is most endowed with consciousness. "

-Mahidasa Aitareya, ~1900 BCE

Worlds first recorded Philosopher

While proto-Iranians chose monotheism, Indo-Aryans chose the path of philosophy.

4. "I do not agree that Reality can be reduced to a singularity. We need new philosophies. We need new pramana. We need ahimsa…"

-Kapila Kardama~1600 BCE

The beginning of dialectic!

First Dualist

First Ahiṃsāvādi

First Empiricist

Influenced every philosophy since..

5. "Consciousness has no exterior, and no interior..

It consumes nothing, it is consumed by nothing"

-Yājñavalkya~1500-1400 BCE

First Monist

Influenced Parmenides, Platonists and Neoplatonists

6. "The self is smaller than an atom yet greater than the great...

Like the hundredth part of a point of hair divided a hundred times..."

-Nachiketā and Śvetāśvatara ~1400-1000 BCE

The first Atomists

7. “Even nouns originate from Verbal roots!”

-Śākaṭāyana~ 800 BCE

The first grammarian & etymologist

8. ‘Language obeys algorithmic rules’

Panini ~500 BCE

The father of linguistics

Direct influence on Humboldt, Bloomfield, Saussure, Chomsky etc

9. “The empirical is the supreme pramana. Even mental phenomena are products of atoms. There is no afterlife or soul. Live happily.”

-Lokayata~ 600 BCE

The first materialists

Influenced Buddhism, Greeks and later Chinese writers`

10. “Of what use is arguing about unknowables? Who are these men to claim authority?”

-Sañjaya Vairatiputra~550 BCE

First sceptic school

Direct influence on Greek Pyrrhonism

11. “Valid inference is by the syllogism of five pillars”

-Medhatithi & Kanada~600-400BCE

Worlds first logicians

12. “The Eye of Truth: Whatsoever is subject to the condition of origination is subject also to condition of cessation. Nothing escapes this. Not even the Atman of the Vedas”

-Gautama Buddha~500 BCE

The first ‘Existentialist’. Consequences of rejection of Self begins...

The world is still shaking from the aftermath of it..

13. “I advise: Focus on countryside for agricultural surplus

Allow foreign goods for benefit of citizens

Buffer stocks to control supply

Centralization & standardization

Empire must expand for resources

Give up profit if it harms the public”

-Kauṭilya~300 BC

First economic thinker

14. “Every thought is a wave on the mind. Even sleep is a thought wave. Latent tendencies are born of prior thoughts and actions. Subsidence of thought waves is concentration”

-Patañjali, 200 BCE

'' All mental phenomenon- thoughts, emotions, memories, desires- are mere mental states. There is nothing constant in our mental constitution, everything is in flux, including our false sense of 'self' [Anatma]''

-Ananda the Elder

The first Psychologists

15. “External objects are real in themselves”

-Sarvāstivādins, 200 BCE

The first realist school

16. “No! The world of forms is a mere representation on human mind”

Asanga and Vasubandhu

-Vijñānavādins, 100 CE

The founding fathers of Idealism and Nominalism

Direct influence on German Idealism

17. “The Svabhava of All objects, all laws is void and without essence. Religious concepts of Karma, dharmas and Buddhas are ultimately, only conventional truths.”

-Nāgārjuna, 200 CE

Founder of Mādhyamaka

Preserved as Zen philosophy of China & Japan

18. “Sphoṭa is the irreducible wave-essence of sound that helps the mind comprehend speech. Language & thought are inseparable.”

-Bhartṛhari, 450 CE

Sphoṭa Theory of cognition

Direct influence on modern linguistics

19. "I replace the five pillar syllogism of Nyaya. It must be deductively validated by Thesis, reason, examples of similarity and dissimilarity."

-Dignaga~500 CE

Deductively valid canonical Syllogism

Adopted by all logicians-Nyaya, Baudhas and Jainas.

20. “There are no universals(such as Jati). Our minds cognize objects by a process of exclusion, rather than inclusion.”

-Dharmakīrti~ 600 CE

Apoha theory of cognition

The first philosopher to reject the caste system

Ideas of Madhyamaka standards reappear only in 18th century Europe

21. “We must ensure happiness for all living brings without appealing to supernatural ideas of Karma. 'Liberated beings' exist only in your delusion.”

-Śāntideva ~700 CE

First 'Utilitarian'. Possible influence on Jeremy Bentham, its modern 'rediscoverer'.

22. “If a thing is truly infinite, can it really have finite parts?”

-Adi Shankara~700 CE

Inspired Schrodinger, Niels Bohr, Heisenberg etc. Today even Sam Altman was seen on Twitter saying 'Absolute equivalence of brahman and atman'.

23. “I am replacing the old logic based on categories with a new one based on epistemology.”

-Gangesa, 1350 CE

The last great Indian philosopher

Origin of analytical logic, set theory, ‘reliabilism’ etc.

Influenced the likes of Gottlob Frege, George Boole, Augustus De Morgan, Charles Babbage etc.