The Character of Logic in India

by Bimal Krishna Matilal

Book Overview

Bimal Krishna Matilal was the Spalding Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics, and Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. Jonardon Ganeri is Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Nottingham, and Matilal Lecturer in Indian Philosophy, King's College London. Heeraman Tiwari earned his Ph.D. at Oxford and is a research analyst and broadcaster for the BBC Hindi World Service in London.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 079143740X
• ISBN13: 9780791437407
• Release Date: May 1998
• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Length: 180 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.9" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Informative but Rough

This book provides a good introduction to Indian logic, though it is suited for a rather small audience. Knowledge of both 20th cent. logic and Indian Pramana theory is needed for a full understanding of the issues Matilal confronts in the book. Because this book was published after Matilal's death but before he was finished putting the book together, many aspects of the editing are quite rough. Beyond numerous typographical errors, there is little flow between the chapters (as different chapters of the book come from essays that were written over a period of many years), and several logical concepts are treated in vastly different ways from one chapter to another. On the whole, my view is that the editors did not put enough of their own effort into making Matilal's views publishable in book form. These deficiencies aside, Matilal is still presently unrivaled in his combined understanding of both Indian philosophy and Anglo-American Analytic philosophy, and so this book will be an important addition to scholarship on Indian logic for some time to come.