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Philosophy

<OpenstaxParagraph>
	The earliest philosophical texts in India constitute the Vedic tradition. The four <OpenstaxTerm>Vedas</OpenstaxTerm> are the oldest of the Hindu scriptures. They are the <OpenstaxEm><OpenstaxTerm>Rigveda</OpenstaxTerm></OpenstaxEm>, the <OpenstaxEm><OpenstaxTerm>Samaveda</OpenstaxTerm></OpenstaxEm>, the <OpenstaxEm><OpenstaxTerm>Yajurveda</OpenstaxTerm></OpenstaxEm>, and the <OpenstaxEm><OpenstaxTerm>Atharvaveda</OpenstaxTerm></OpenstaxEm>. The four Vedas were composed between 1500 and 900 BCE by the Indo-Aryan tribes that had settled in northern <OpenstaxTerm>India</OpenstaxTerm>. The Vedas are also called Shruti, which means “hearing” in Sanskrit. This is because for hundreds of years, the Vedas were recited orally. Hindus believe that the Vedas were divinely inspired; priests were orally transmitting the divine word through the generations.
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<OpenstaxParagraph>
	The <OpenstaxEm><OpenstaxTerm>Rigveda</OpenstaxTerm></OpenstaxEm> is the most ancient of the four Vedic texts. The text is a collection of the “family books” of 10 clans, each of which were reluctant to part with their secret ancestral knowledge. However, when the Kuru monarchs unified these clans, they organized and codified this knowledge around 1200 BCE. The Brahmanic, or priestly, culture arose under the Kuru dynasty (Witzel 1997) and produced the three remaining Vedas. The <OpenstaxEm><OpenstaxTerm>Samaveda</OpenstaxTerm></OpenstaxEm> contains many of the <OpenstaxEm>Rigveda</OpenstaxEm> hymns but ascribes to those hymns melodies so that they can be chanted. The <OpenstaxEm><OpenstaxTerm>Yajurveda</OpenstaxTerm></OpenstaxEm> contains hymns that accompany rites of healing and other types of rituals. These two texts shine light on the history of Indo-Aryans during the Vedic period, the deities they worshipped, and their ideas about the nature of the world, its creation, and humans. The <OpenstaxEm><OpenstaxTerm>Atharvaveda</OpenstaxTerm></OpenstaxEm> incorporates rituals that reveal the daily customs and beliefs of the people, including their traditions surrounding birth and death. This text also contains philosophical speculation about the purpose of the rituals (Witzel 1997).
</OpenstaxParagraph>
<OpenstaxH3>The Later Texts and Organization</OpenstaxH3>
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	Later <OpenstaxTerm>Hindu</OpenstaxTerm> texts developed during the Vedic and post-Vedic periods were integrated into the four Vedas such that each Veda now consists of four sections: (1) the <OpenstaxTerm>Samhitas</OpenstaxTerm>, or mantras and benedictions—the original hymns of the Vedas; (2) the <OpenstaxTerm>Aranyakas</OpenstaxTerm>, or directives about rituals and sacrifice; (3) the <OpenstaxTerm>Brahmanas</OpenstaxTerm>, or commentaries on these rituals; and (4) the <OpenstaxTerm>Upanishads</OpenstaxTerm>, which consists of two Indian epics as well as philosophical reflections.
</OpenstaxParagraph>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	The Upanishad epics include the <OpenstaxTerm>Bhagavad Gita</OpenstaxTerm> (Song of the Lord), which is part of a much longer poem called the Mahabharata, and the Ramayana. The Mahabharata is an epic depicting the battles of the noble house of Bharata, while the Ramayana focuses on the ancient king Rama during his 14-year exile. There are 13 principal Upanishads and more than 100 minor ones, composed between 800 and 200 BCE in a mix of prose and verse. <OpenstaxEm>Upanishad</OpenstaxEm> derives from the Sanskrit words <OpenstaxEm>upa</OpenstaxEm> (near), <OpenstaxEm>ni</OpenstaxEm> (down), and <OpenstaxEm>shad</OpenstaxEm> (to sit), which comes from the fact that these texts were taught to students who sat at their teachers’ feet. Additionally, the term signifies that these texts reveal esoteric doctrines about the true nature of reality beyond the realm of sense perception. The Upanishads became the philosophical core of Hinduism.
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<OpenstaxH3>Metaphysical Thought in the Vedic Texts</OpenstaxH3>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	The Vedic texts state that through reflection on the self, one comes to understand the cosmos. Like the Greeks much later, these texts claim that there is a structural analogy between the self and the universe, with one sharing the form of the other. Through inner reflection on oneself, one can then understand the nature of the world.
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<OpenstaxFigure id="fig-00001" src="https://openstax.org/apps/archive/20240226.174525/resources/66afdbb444b648d735964b068383870311ef6b64" alt="Evening sky, with stars dominating the top portion of the image, low clouds on the horizon, and mountainous terrain at the bottom. A spot of electric lights creates a bright glow." mediaType="image/jpeg" width="800" height="532" />
<OpenstaxFigureText width="800">
	<strong>Figure 3.6</strong> The Vedic texts state that reflection on the self can lead to knowledge of the cosmos, proposing that the two share the same form. (credit: “Nightfall” by Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY 2.0)
</OpenstaxFigureText>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	The <OpenstaxEm><OpenstaxTerm>Rigveda</OpenstaxTerm></OpenstaxEm> examines the origin of the universe and asks whether the gods created humanity or humans created the gods—a question that would later be posed by the Greek philosopher Xenophanes. More than half of the verses in the <OpenstaxEm>Rigveda</OpenstaxEm> are devoted to metaphysical speculation concerning cosmological theories and the relationship between the individual and the universe. The idea that emerges within <OpenstaxTerm>Hinduism</OpenstaxTerm> is that the universe is cyclical in nature. The cycle of the seasons and the cyclical nature of other natural processes are understood to mirror the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth among humans and other animals. Related to this conception is the philosophical question of how one puts an end to this cycle. The Hindus suggest that the answer lies in purification, with ascetic rituals provided as means to achieve freedom from the cycle of reincarnation.
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<OpenstaxParagraph>
	Another area of similarity between the universe and humanity is that both are understood to have a hierarchical structure. Hindu theology assigns a rigid hierarchy to the cosmos, with the triple deity, Vishnu, Brahma, and Shiva, standing above the other gods. India first developed its hierarchical <OpenstaxTerm>caste system</OpenstaxTerm> during the Vedic period. Vedic rituals cemented caste hierarchies, the remnants of which still structure Indian society today.
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<OpenstaxNote>
	<OpenstaxNoteTitle> Connections </OpenstaxNoteTitle> 
	<OpenstaxParagraph>
		See the chapter on <a href="./fe58be6f-3b61-4e16-b3b6-db6924f0b2f2@a904be0:1eb262e3-d4ef-4c23-a050-f134213bba93.xhtml">the emergence of classical philosophy</a> for more on Hindu views of the nature of the self.
	</OpenstaxParagraph>
</OpenstaxNote>

3.2.1 The Vedic Tradition

1 Introduction to Philosophy

1.1 What Is Philosophy?

1.1.1 Historical Origins of Philosophy

1.1.2 How It All Hangs Together

1.2 How Do Philosophers Arrive at Truth?

1.2.1 Sources of Evidence

1.2.2 Logic

1.2.3 Conceptual Analysis

1.2.4 Trade-offs

1.3 Socrates as a Paradigmatic Historical Philosopher

1.3.1 “The Life Which Is Unexamined Is Not Worth Living”

1.3.2 Human Wisdom Is Worth Little or Nothing

1.3.3 The Importance of Doing No Harm

1.4 An Overview of Contemporary Philosophy

1.4.1 What Can You Do with a Philosophy Major?

1.4.2 An Overview of Your Philosophy Textbook

2 Critical Thinking, Research, Reading, and Writing

2.1 The Brain Is an Inference Machine

2.1.1 The Brain’s Adaptive Ability to Plan Ahead

2.1.2 The Evolutionary Advantage of Shortcuts

2.2 Overcoming Cognitive Biases and Engaging in Critical Reflection

2.2.1 Critical Reflection and Metacognition

2.2.2 Cognitive Biases

2.3 Developing Good Habits of Mind

2.3.1 Strive for Objectivity

2.3.2 Adopt Epistemic Humility

2.4 Gathering Information, Evaluating Sources, and Understanding Evidence

2.4.1 Start with a Strong Foundation

2.4.2 The SIFT Method (Four Moves for Student Fact Checkers)

2.5 Reading Philosophy

2.5.1 Prepare to Read

2.5.2 Engaging with Philosophical Texts

2.5.3 Pre-reading

2.5.4 First Read

2.5.5 Close Read

2.6 Writing Philosophy Papers

2.6.1 Identify Claims

2.6.2 Collect Evidence and Build Your Case

2.6.3 Organize Your Paper

3 The Early History of Philosophy around the World

3.1 Indigenous Philosophy

3.1.1 Challenges in Researching Indigenous Philosophy

3.1.2 Indigenous African Philosophy

3.1.3 Indigenous North American Philosophical Thought

3.1.4 Mesoamerican Philosophy

3.2 Classical Indian Philosophy

3.2.2 Classical Indian Darshanas

3.3 Classical Chinese Philosophy

3.3.1 Early Chinese Philosophical Thought prior to Confucius

3.3.2 Confucianism

3.3.3 Daoism

3.3.4 Mohism

4 The Emergence of Classical Philosophy

4.1 Historiography and the History of Philosophy

4.1.1 Presentist Approach

4.1.2 Contextualist Approach

4.1.3 Hermeneutic Approach

4.2 Classical Philosophy

4.2.1 Egyptian Origins of Classical Philosophy

4.2.2 Ancient Greek Philosophy

4.2.3 The Presocratics

4.2.4 Socrates and Plato

4.2.5 Aristotle

4.2.6 Epicureans

4.2.7 Roman Philosophy

4.3 Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Philosophy

4.3.1 Defining Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Philosophy

4.3.2 Early Jewish Philosophy

4.3.3 Early Christian Philosophy

4.3.4 Islamic Philosophy

4.3.5 Late Medieval Philosophy in Christian Europe

4.3.6 Jewish Philosophers in the Christian and Islamic Worlds

4.3.7 The Rise of Reason in the Early Modern Era

5 Logic and Reasoning

5.1 Philosophical Methods for Discovering Truth

5.1.1 Dialectics and Philosophical Argumentation

5.1.2 The Use of Reason to Discover Truth

5.1.3 Testing Hypotheses

5.1.4 Laws of Logic

5.1.5 Normativity in Logic

5.2 Logical Statements

5.2.1 Conditionals

5.2.2 Universal Statements

5.3 Arguments

5.3.1 Getting to the Premises

5.3.2 The Difference between Truth and Logic

5.4 Types of Inferences

5.4.1 Deductive Reasoning

5.4.2 Inductive Inferences

5.4.3 Abductive Reasoning

5.5 Informal Fallacies

5.5.1 Fallacies of Relevance

5.5.2 Fallacies of Weak Induction

5.5.3 Fallacies of Unwarranted Assumption

5.5.4 Fallacies of Diversion

6 Metaphysics

6.1 Substance

6.1.1 Fundamentality: The One and the Many

6.1.2 Ontological Perspectives on Substance