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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 June 2014
The much-welcomed recent acknowledgement that there is a plurality of philosophical traditions has an important consequence: that we must acknowledge too that there are many philosophical modernities. Modernity, I will claim, is a polycentric notion, and I will substantiate my claim by examining in some detail one particular non-western philosophical modernity, a remarkable period in 16th to 17th century India where a diversity of philosophical projects fully deserve the label ‘modern’.
1 The following quotation is representative: ‘Historically, modernization is the process of change towards those types of social, economic and political systems that have developed in Western Europe and North America from the seventeenth century to the nineteenth’ (Eisenstadt ‘Multiple Modernities’: 1). For similarly Eurocentric definitions of modernity, see also Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1990)Google Scholar; Hall, and Gieben, Formations of Modernity (Cambridge, U.K.: Polity Press, 1992), 1–16Google Scholar
2 Eisenstadlt, Shmuel N. (2000) ‘Multiple modernities’, Daedalus 129(1): 1–29Google Scholar
3 Radhakrishnan, R. (2002) ‘Derivative discourses and the problem of signification’, The European Legacy 7(6): 783–95CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4 Freidman, Susan (2006) ‘Periodizing modernism: postcolonial modernities and the space/time borders of modernist studies’, Modernism/Modernity 13(3): 429Google Scholar
5 Bacon: ‘There was but one course left, therefore,—to try the whole thing anew upon a better plan, and to commence a total reconstruction of sciences, arts and all human knowledge, raised upon the proper foundations.’ (Instauratio magma, Preface; 1857–74, vol. 4: 8 in The Works of Francis Bacon, Spedding, J., Ellis, R. L. and Heath, D. D. (eds)(London: Longmans)Google Scholar). Descartes: ‘As soon as I was old enough to emerge from the control of my teachers, I entirely abandoned the study of letters… For it seemed to me that much more truth could be found in the reasonings which a man makes concerning matters that concern him than in those which some scholar makes in his study.’ (Discourse, AT vi. 9; 1984: 115, in The Philosophical Writings of Descartes, Cottingham, John (ed.)(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984)Google Scholar). ‘The following text draws from material in Ganeri The Lost Age of Reason: Philosophy in Early Modern India 1450–1700 C.E. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2012)Google Scholar.’
6 Mercer, Christia (1993) ‘The Vitality and Importance of Early Modern Aristotelianism’, in Sorell, Tom (ed.), The Rise of Modern Philosophy: The Tension between the New and Traditional Philosophies from Machiavelli to Leibniz (Oxford: Clarendon Press): 34Google Scholar
7 Cottingham, John (1993) ‘A New Start? Cartesian Metaphysics and the Emergence of Modern Philosophy’, in Sorell, Tom (ed.) The Rise of Modern Philosophy: The Tension between the New and Traditional Philosophies from Machiavelli to Leibniz (Oxford: Clarendon Press): 150Google Scholar
8 Garber, Daniel (1988) ‘Descartes, the Aristotelians, and the Revolution That Did Not Happen in 1637’, The Monist 71(6): 471–486CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
9 Froimont 1637, quoted in Garber ‘Descartes, the Aristotelians, and the Revolution That Did Not Happen in 1637’: 476
10 Ariew, Roger. Descartes and the Late Scholastics (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1999)Google Scholar; Secada, Jorge. Cartesian Metaphysics: The Scholastic Origins of Modern Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11 Martin, Julian (1993). ‘Francis Bacon, Authority, and the Moderns’, in Sorell, Tom (ed.) The Rise of Modern Philosophy: The Tension between the New and Traditional Philosophies from Machiavelli to Leibniz (Oxford: Clarendon Press): 74Google Scholar
12 Schmitt, Charles. Aristotle and the Renaissance (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1983)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Mercer, ‘The Vitality and Importance of Early Modern Aristotelianism’ (1993)
13 Kristeller, P. O. (1984). ‘Stoic and Neoplatonic Sources in Spinoza's Ethics’, History of European Ideas 5(1): 1–15CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
14 James, Susan (1993). ‘Spinoza the Stoic’, in Sorell, Tom (ed.) The Rise of Modern Philosophy: The Tension between the New and Traditional Philosophies from Machiavelli to Leibniz (Oxford: Clarendon Press): 291Google Scholar
15 Loemaker, L. (ed.) Leibniz: Philosophical Papers and Letters (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1956),124Google Scholar
16 Mahādeva Punạtāmakara (1967). Precious Jewel of Reason (Nyāyakaustubha) Anumāna-khanḍạ. Damodara Lal Gosvami ed. (Varanasi: Vidya Mandir Press, Saraswati Bhavana Texts 33, Part II); Mahādeva Punạtāmakara (1982). Precious Jewel of Reason (Nyāyakaustubha), Śabda-khanḍạ. V. Subrahmanya Sastri ed. (Tanjore: T. M. S. S. M. Library). (Nyāya-kaustubha)
17 Pollock, (2001) ‘The Death of Sanskrit’, Comparative Studies in Society and History 43(2): 407CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18 kuto vā nūtanaṃ vastu vayam utprekṣitum kṣamāḥ | vacovinyāsavaicitryamātram atra vicāryatām || (Jayanta Bhatṭạ. Nyāya-mañjarī. With the commentary Granthibhaṅ ga by Cakradhara, Gaurinath Shastri (ed.) (Varanasi: Sampurnananda Sanskrit University, 1982): 1, v. 8). Though certainly exaggerated, Jayanta's disclaimer is still less than that of the influential eighth-century Buddhist writer Śāntideva: ‘Nothing new will be said here; nor have I any skill in composition. Therefore I do not imagine that I can benefit others. I have done this [simply] to improve my own mind’ (na hi kiṃcitapūrvam atra vācyaṃ na ca saṃgrathanakauśalaṃ mamāsti | ata eva ne me parārthacintā svamano vāsayituṃ kṛtaṃ mayedam || (Bodhicary āvatāra1.2).
19 Raghunātha Śiromanị (1915). Inquiry into the Truth about Things (Padārtha-tattva-nirūpanạ). V. P. Dvivedi (ed.) (Varanasi). Text and trans. Karl H. Potter (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, Harvard Yenching Institute Studies, vol. 17, 1957), 89, 90
20 [1597] 1873: 537 (cited in D. C. Bhattacharya 1937. ‘Sanskrit Scholars of Akbar's Time’, Indian Historical Quarterly 13: 31–36). Abu'l Fazl does not mention Raghunātha in the list of philosophers he provides to accompany this description, Raghunātha presumably already dead when Akbar came to the throne; but he does name someone with close ties to Raghunātha, Vidyānivāsa, and he also mentions Raghunātha's best-known student.
21 Śiromanị, Raghunātha (1915). Inquiry into the Truth about Things (Padārtha-tattva-nirūpanạ). Dvivedi, V. P. (ed.) (Varanasi). Text and trans. Potter, Karl H. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, Harvard Yenching Institute Studies, vol. 17, 1957), 76Google Scholar
22 Nīlakaṇṭha (1444–1545) and Jyeṣṭḥadeva (c. 1530) are exemplary figures. Jyeṣṭhadeva's Malayalam Rationales in Mathematical Astronomy, for example, contains results, using methods closely analogous to the infinitesimal calculus, for computing the equation of centre and latitudinal motion of Mercury and Venus, derivations in spherical astronomy, and proofs of the infinite series for π, the arc-tangent and the sine functions. See Sharma, K.V., Ramasubramanian, K., and Sriniva, M. D. and Sriram, M. S.Ganita-yukti-bhāsāạ̄ (Rationales in Mathematical Astronomy) of Jyesṭḥ adeva (Dordrecht: Springer, 2008)Google Scholar; Narasimha, Roddam (2009). ‘The Chequered Histories of Epistemology and Science’, in Ray, Bharati (ed.), Different Types of History. History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization, vol. 14, part 4 (Delhi: Pearson Longman)Google Scholar. Raju presents the case for thinking that Keralan mathematics was transmitted to early modern Europe (Raju, C. K. (2007). Cultural Foundations of Mathematics: The Nature of Mathematical Proof and the Transmission of the Calculus from India to Europe in the 16th Century. History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization, vol. 10, part 4 (Delhi: Centre for Studies in Civilizations)Google Scholar.).
23 E.g. Matilal, Bimal Krishna. Perception: An Essay on Classical Indian Theories of Knowledge (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986)Google Scholar.
24 The question about whether there are irreducibly normative properties continues to be a live issue of debate. Many agree with Raghunatha that there are; for example, Shafer-Landau, . Moral Realism: A Defence (Oxford University Press, 2003)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
25 Mahādevācārya Siṃhā's commentary on Bhāvabhūti's Malatim-ādhava (Sāhitya Pariṣat Patrikā, 245; D. C. Bhattacharya Vāṅgālīr Sārasvat Avadān: Baṅge Navya-nyāya Carcā (Calcutta: Sahitya Parisạt, 1952), 35).
26 An example is Bhārat Candra Raī, a prominent scholar in the court of Kṛṣṇa Candra. According to an early report, ‘his fondness for Sanskrit studies displeased his relations, who thought that an acquaintance with Muhammadan literature was a better passport to wealth and distinction than the Vedas and Purāṇas.’ (Wilson, W. W. (1877). A Statistical Account of Bengal; vol. 2: Districts of Nadiyā and Jessor (London: Trubner & Co. Reprinted 1973, D. K. Publishing House, Delhi): 155–6Google Scholar).
27 ‘Letter to Monsieur Chapelain, Despatched from Chiras in Persia, the 4th October 1667’, translated in Bernier (1934 [1670–1]). Histoire de la dernière révolution des États du Gran Mogol, 4 vols (Paris: Claude Barbin, 1670–1671)Google Scholar; edited as Voyage dans les États du Grand Mogol, France Bhattacharya (Paris: Fayard, 1981). Trans. Brock, Irvind, Travels in the Mogul Empire AD 1656–1668 (London: W. Pickering 1834; 3rd edn), 323–5Google Scholar.
28 Gode, P. K. (1954). ‘Bernier and Kavīndrācārya Sarasvatī at the Moghal Court’, in Gode, P. K., Studies in Indian Literary History (Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan), vol. 2: 364–379Google Scholar.
29 Shastri, Haraprasad (1912). ‘Dakshini Panḍ ị ts at Benares’, Indian Antiquary XLI: 7–13Google Scholar. Gode, P. K. (1945). ‘Some Evidence About the Location of the Manuscript Library of Kavīndracharya Sarasvati at Benares in A.D. 1665’, in Raja, C. Kunhan (ed.), Jagadvijayachandas of Kavindracharya (Bikaner: Anup Sanskrit Library)Google Scholar. Shastri tells us that ‘he was a great collector of manuscripts. It is not known how many thousands of manuscripts he collected, but all the manuscripts of his library bear in large, bold, and beautiful Devanāgarī character his signature sarva-vidyā-nidhāna-kavīndra-sarasvatī. That signature is a guarantee for the correctness and accuracy of the manuscript. It is not known when and how the library was broken up, but the manuscripts of his library can now be procured in Benares, and they are preferred by all Paṇḍits to other manuscripts.’
30 Smith, V. A. (ed.) The Oxford History of India (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2nd edn., 1923), 415, 425Google Scholar.
31 Jayarāma, for instance, who knew Bernier's discussant, Kavīndra Sarasvatī, might well have been one of them. Bernier reports that he was introduced to ‘the six most learned paṇḍits in the town’ of Vārāṇasī (Bernier, Histoire de la dernière révolution des États du Gran Mogol, 342).
32 Gode, P. K. ‘Bernier and Kavīndrācārya Sarasvatī at the Moghal Court’, 376
33 See Krishna, Daya. Developments in Indian Philosophy from Eighteenth Century Onwards. History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization, vol. 10 part 1 (New Delhi: Centre for Studies in Civilizations, 2001)Google Scholar.
34 Pollock, (2001). ‘The New Intellectuals in Seventeenth century India’, The Indian Economic and Social History Review 38, 24CrossRefGoogle Scholar
35 Shukoh, Dārā (1929 [1655]). Majma-ul-Barhain, or The Mingling of the Two Oceans by Prince Muhammad Dārā Shikuh. Mahfuzul-Haq, M. (ed.) and trans. (New Delhi: Adam Publishers, 1929; 2006 edn)Google Scholar; Shukoh, Dārā (1957 [1656]). Sirr-i Akbar: The Oldest Translation of the Upanisạds from Sanskrit into Persian. Chand, Tara & Raza Jalali Nayni, S. M. (eds) (Tehran: Taban, 1957)Google Scholar.
36 Curley, Edwin (1986). ‘Dialogues with the Dead’, Synthese 67(1): 2249CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
37 vic āra; Venị̄datta. Embellishment of the Categories (Padārthamanḍạna), Nene, Gopala Sastri ed. (Benares: Vidya Vilas Press; Princess of Wales Sarasvati Bhavana texts 30, 1930), 36Google Scholar
38 Edmund Husserl, for example, identifies ‘Cartesian freedom from prejudice’ as what distinguishes ‘European mankind’ from India and the Orient (Halbfass, Wilhelm. India and Europe: An Essay in Understanding (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1988) 157Google Scholar). Gottlob Frege says that ‘in arithmetic, if only because its methods and concepts originated in India, it has been the tradition to reason less strictly than in geometry, which was in the main developed by the Greeks’. Frege, . The Foundations of Arithmetic. Trans. by Austin, J. L. (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1950)Google Scholar, §1
39 Freidman, Susan (2006). ‘Periodizing modernism: postcolonial modernities and the space/time borders of modernist studies’, 433
40 Ibid.
41 Subrahmanyam, Sanjay (1998). ‘Hearing voices: vignettes of early modernity in South Asia, 1400–1750’, Daedalus 127(3): 75–104Google Scholar.
42 de Man, Paul (1983). ‘Literary history and literary modernity’, Blindness and Insight (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press), 147–8Google Scholar
