ABSTRACT
One of the convenient aspects of the Indian, or more generally South Asian, philosophical tradition is that it is typically organized into systems. These are, often referred to as the darsanas. It is worth noting that modern conceptions of Indian philosophy are the product of a synthesis of western and Indian thinking in the period since the second half of the nineteenth century. In certain ways modern ideas of Indian philosophy do not fit with elements in the tradition itself—that is, the South Asian tradition dominated primarily by emerging Buddhist and Hindu religious and social structures and world views. Actually, the modern Hindu ideology is itself a forecast of what one aspect of comparative philosophy is likely to yield—namely, a reflective synthesis of the outlooks of differing past civilizations, in the interests of a new global reflection on the history of the human race.
