ABSTRACT
Two questions preoccupied philosophers in classical India; as explained in the previous chapter, these questions concerned, firstly, the nature of reality and, secondly, the identity of the true self. Here we explore some answers to the first question and in the following chapter we focus on answers to the second. Philosophers proposed and defended a number of competing
accounts of the nature of reality. Some argued for a pluralist account, according to which reality is composed of an irreducible plurality of different types of object. Others preferred the dualist thesis that reality is composed of two fundamentally different substances. A third type of theory, called monism, held that, despite appearances to the contrary, at the most fundamental level only one thing was real. Supporters of each position held that their account was faithful to the Vedas. A key subject of debate, then, was whether pluralism, dualism or monism offered the best theory of the fundamental nature of reality. As we shall see, seeking to resolve this debate led to extensive examination of a further question: ‘What, if anything, are we directly aware of through experience?’. Philosophers from all the dars´anas contributed to the discussion of
these questions. Here we focus on those dars´anas which advanced the most distinctive views about the nature of reality. These are the four a-stika dars´anas, Advaita Veda-nta, Sa-m. khya, Yoga and Vais´es.ika. We
will also consider some Buddhist responses to these views. We begin with a brief discussion of pre-philosophical speculation about the origin of the world (and of selves) in the Vedas.
