Philosophical Perspectives
Most of the classical Indian schools present veritable world views—comprehensive philosophies formed by interlocking positions of the main branches of philosophy (metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics). Although systematic philosophies are intended to stand as whole bodies of thought, it is often desirable to separate and delineate issues within them, particularly in study and debate. In the case of Indian philosophy, examining specific classical arguments and general philosophic views also facilitates comparison with Western philosophy. This section is devoted to a broad contemporary perspective of classical Indian thought on some of the great issues of philosophy.
Metaphysics
Religious, or spiritual, metaphysics, a field that currently receives little attention among philosophers in academia in the West, considers the question of the nature of a Supreme Being and its relation to the world. Indian Buddhism, Advaita Vedanta, and theistic Vedanta all have contributed to this debate. Within spiritual metaphysics, an insistence on spiritual monism (only one spiritual being ultimately exists) is probably the most important consideration that Indian thought upholds, though with numerous variations: Much Buddhist philosophy promotes the idea of the interdependence of everything; theistic Vedanta finds no gap between the world and God (the world is God's body); and Advaita Vedanta insists that everyone's true self is nothing other than Brahman, the Absolute.
The field of analytic metaphysics, which examines everyday experience and language, is currently more prominent among Western philosophers. The Indian school of Logic offers a complex theory of generality (What is the reality of general ideas? For example, what is it to be a cow? What is a cow's essence?) The problem of generalities, or universals, has long been debated in Western philosophy.
Epistemology
One of the more active branches of philosophy in the West is epistemology, which attempts to answer questions involving the nature and limits of knowledge. In epistemology, too, the Indian Logic school has much to offer for contemporary analysis, as does the school of Buddhist Idealism (Yogacara). Logic lays out, with detailed elaboration, four methods of personal knowledge: perception; inference; analogical acquisition of vocabulary; and authoritative testimony. Logic also challenges skepticism, the view that true knowledge is impossible to obtain. According to Logic, even though humans are fallible, they may assume that they are justified in their established beliefs. Any doubt of those beliefs has to be reasonable or has to have its own grounds for consideration. Much Western reflection assumes that any and all doubts can undermine established claims of knowledge. Meanwhile, Buddhist Idealism takes a pragmatic middle ground between skepticism and Logic's defense of everyday beliefs. For the Buddhist Idealist, the test of truth and justification is whether humans actually get what they want—and avoid what they do not want. Thus, human concepts are shaped by human desires.
With a vast wealth of mystical literature and philosophic defenses of mysticism, Indian thought has much to offer the epistemology of religious belief. In particular, several Indian philosophers, of different schools, have over time advanced the argument that mystical experience has objective epistemic value in revealing a spiritual reality. These philosophers find a parallel between this value of mystical experience and the value of sense experience in revealing physical reality.
Ethics
Another major branch of Western philosophy is ethics, which examines human actions. Classical Indian thought presents little philosophic ethics in the Western sense (for example, concern with the fundamental criteria of ethical norms). On the other hand, Indian interest in ethics—from the ethical teachings of enlightenment, to the caste system of society, and to Mohandas Gandhi's political philosophy of noninjury (ahimsa)—is much more widespread than interest in metaphysics or epistemology. Noninjury, properly qualified, is a persuasive candidate for a universal ethical prescription, transcending boundaries of culture as well as religion.
Indian philosophy also considers the ethical implications of the Indian classical theories of karma (action or habit). These theories usually presuppose rebirth—that is, reincarnation in a human or animal form, in this or in other worlds. Since, on the presumption of karma, the nature of one's deeds determines one's future state, the universe includes laws of moral payback. Indian classical philosophers weave numerous variations on such views into their overall stances, including Buddhist, Vedantic, Logic, and Carvaka views.
Contemporary Developments
There is comparatively little original philosophy still being written in Sanskrit. Philosophers in India now write in modern Indian languages and in English. Moreover, the advent of scientific thought and of the modern university has altered the Indian intellectual community. Classical philosophy survives mainly in the influences it exerts among its students.
Many philosophers, particularly in India, have discovered and championed important philosophic theses of classical Indian thought, and these individuals may eventually bring a global standing to classical Indian philosophy comparable to that of classical Greek philosophy. Prominent 20th-century Indian academics include K. C. Bhattacharyya, professor of philosophy at the University of Calcutta and the teacher of many important succeeding philosophers; T. M. P. Mahadevan, professor of philosophy at the University of Madras and the author of several books on classical Advaita Vedanta; and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the former President of India, vice chancellor of Benares Hindu University (1939-1948), and chancellor of Delhi University (1953-1962), who was known for his deft comparisons between Western and Indian thought.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/hinduism/934-indian-philosophy-viz-viz-western-philosophy.html Some of the great names of modern Indian spiritual thought are also great names of modern Indian history. Raja Ram Mohan Roy, sometimes referred to as the father of modern India, founded the Brahmo Samaj (Church of Brahman) in 1828 and was the first to articulate, in English, a synthesis of Western and Indian religious views. The late-19th-century spiritual leader (guru) Swami Vivekananda was an elegant writer in English on broadly philosophic and psychological topics. He founded the Ramakrishna Mission and gave it a modern version of Vedanta. Mystic and guru Sri Aurobindo Ghose also wrote elegant arguments in English. He originated a new Brahman-centered evolutionary world view sensitive both to science and mysticism.
Academic philosophy in India is deeply conversant with Western philosophy and addresses many of the same issues and methods. The Indian intellectual environment extends beyond the universities, where continuation of India's spiritual philosophy is influenced by religious and mystical practices, such as yoga, that are distinct or much more prominent in Indian culture.