Tola, F: Essays on Indian Philosophy in Comparative Perspect

Dragonetti and Tola deal with five cases of thematic and methodological coincidences between Indian and Western philosophical thought in order to establish that an Indian philosophy with the same expectations and the same weaknesses as those of Western philosophy exists. Thus it is possible to conclude that there is not a "Western thought characterized by rationality and freedom of mind", opposed to an "Indian thought characterized by religiosity and irrationality", but only a "Universal philosophical thought". The method of presenting the evidence is the same applied in their book On the Myth of the Opposition between Indian Thought and Western Philosophy (Olms, 2004): the parallel presentation in their original languages of Indian and Western philosophical texts. These five essays are especially concerned with the Nyaya and Vaise?ika systems of Indian philosophy.Carmen Dragonetti, Dr. phil., Lima (Peru), is research fellow of the CONICET (National Council for Scientific Research, Argentina) and Fernando Tola, Dr. litt., Lima (Peru), was research fellow of the same institution (now retired), both in the highest category. As president and vice-president of the Institute of Buddhist Studies Foundation, Argentina, they carry out their research work. They are authors of numerous publications (English and Spanish) on Indian philosophy.Dragonetti und Tola beschäftigen sich mit fünf Fällen der thematischen und methodischen Koinzidenzen zwischen der indischen und westlichen philosophischen Denkweise, um zu zeigen, dass es eine indische Philosophie gibt, die dieselben Erwartungen und Defizite wie die westliche Philosophie hat. Daraus kann man schließen, dass es keine "westliche Denkweise" gibt "die durch Vernunft und Denkfreiheit gekennzeichnet ist", welche einer "indischen Denkweise, die sich durch Religiosität und Irrationalität auszeichnet" entgegengesetzt wird, sondern eine "universelle philosophische Art zu denken". Die