Hello.
Today, we will begin, with the third module
of this course, which is, as you can see the
screen, it is Ethics in the Indian Tradition.
Till now, we have been talking about, various
Moral Theories.
We have talked about, Metaethical
debates.
And, which have mostly been, from the western
analytic perspective of moral
philosophising.
Now surely, many of us would be curious about,
what happens, or what has
happened.
And, how has the Indian philosophical tradition,
grappled with the problems of Ethics.
What is our lineage, or philosophical heritage,
about debating the problems of Moral
Philosophy?
Now, this module is dedicated to, tackling
this issue about Ethics, as it takes place
in the Indian Tradition.
Now, there may be lot of notions about Ethics,
that we have in India.
That, the Indian Tradition is perhaps more,
some would say, lays great emphasis on Ethics.
We all have an intuitive idea, as we are as
Indians, raised in this country.
And, this tradition, there
is a certain strong unifying factor.
Now, many people have said, that well, we
are strictly not one
nation, we are of diverse cultures.
But then, in our heritage, there has been
significantly strong
thread connecting, all our various regions
and states.
So, we can have something called the
Indian Philosophy, or something called the
Indian Tradition.
Because, despite of the various differences,
the history of the country has been united,
in fact the
history of the subcontinent.
So, currently imposed national boundaries,
do not limit our cultures,
or our Philosophical Tradition.
Philosophical Tradition Indian Philosophy
comprises of, seven
Schools of Indian Philosophy.
This is the ancient philosophical tradition,
where we have been
thinking, our forefathers and ancestors have
been debating, on philosophical problems.
Okay.
Now, let us first talk about, what is Indian
Philosophy.
Now, this is a very difficult subject to
grapple with.
Because, there are varied opinions and justifications
of the same.
Now,
Homogeneity is not, that much of an Indian
Traditional feature, as is it in the Western
Traditions,
which makes it easier to generalise and theorise.
So, just as the average Indian.
It is may be a
mathematical, or an average, but a statistical
average.
But, there are wide variations, in the
average Indian ethos, or average Indian culture.
Now, Indian Philosophy from ancient times,
and India has a rich and long tradition of
philosophising.
And, Philosophy was could have given greater
importance, from the times of
kings, ancient India, ancient Indian subcontinent,
and forward.
So, generally it is regarded that,
Indians Philosophy has, six plus one, Ancient
Seven Schools of Indian Philosophy.
Plus one, I
say because, it means, there is one School
called the Charvaka School, which is a School
of the
Indian Materialists.
And unfortunately, their text has been destroyed
over time.
And, what we are talking about is of,
more than two millennia back.
So, Charvaka is referred as the seventh School.
Because, there is a
continuity, or there is a similarity, between
the six Schools.
And, many of their text remains,
which Charvaka does not have, that much of
a substantiation.
But, because of the Purva paksha,
or the foreground described, the Indian philosophical
debates, had to describe a Purva paksha or,
which is the foreground, of the debate to
be taken place.
Every philosophical debate had to start with
the, explication of the size of the debate.
And, in
this, from the Purva Paksha’s of various
debates, which are work of Philosophy, can
be picked
up.
So, of course there are many myths, regarding
Indian Philosophy.
One, that it is completely
otherworldly.
Because, we do have one entire School of Indian
Philosophy, dedicated to
Materialism, and which regarding, physical
entities as the ultimate real entities.
Now, let apart.
Every Indian Philosophical School, has its
ancillary School of Ethics.
And, it has
its claims, it has its ethical systems.
Now, how would these compare, to the Western
Moral
Theories, that we have come across.
We will see this, over this module, when we
talk about the
various Indian Schools of Theory.
Now, what is it?
What is Ethics in Indian Tradition?
How are
we today?
Are we religious nation?
Are we a spiritual nation?
Are we a moral nation?
Are we an
immoral nation?
Are we an amoral nation?
Are we a ritualistic nation?
There are various opinions, that we receive.
And, it is not an easy job to, just stick
with one.
Because, the truth is, little more complicated,
in this case.
Because, how are we?
What is our
moral standpoint?
Are we an honest nation?
Are we a dishonest nation?
Can these questions, it
all be asked, about general people at large.
Well.
Though, there are applied questions, that
do
come up, and those are talks of common room
debates.
But, we will see, how theorising has taken
place in the Indian Tradition.
And, what are the key
concepts, that have been used.
And, how have we arrived at the various theories.
Well.
The first
issue, that we talk about is, Dharma.
Now, Dharma is something, that anybody raised
with an
Indian upbringing, would be familiar with.
But, what is this notion of Dharma.
Many people
have called this as, the cornerstone, or the
foundation, or the bedrock of ethical theorising,
in the
Indian Tradition.
What is the meaning of Dharma?
Does it mean Ethics?
Does it mean duty?
Does it mean quality?
Does it mean ethos?
What does it mean?
Now, this is a question that is, many philosophers
have
also come across, to say that well, Dharma
as a concept, cannot be translated into English
term,
and definitely not religion.
So, our first point of engagement would be,
the notion of Dharma.
What do we mean by Dharma?
Whether, how best can we understand it, and
how is it a part of
moral theorising, in the Indian Tradition.
Now, after we talk about Dharma, we are going
to talk about, the Theory of Karma.
Now, this is
a theory, that we have talked about, that
has been very frequently, and fondly, and
prevalently
talked about.
That in fact, it is also become a word in
the English Dictionary, Karma.
So, Karma
would mean the, cycle of actions and their
desserts.
Now, what is the Indian Theory of Karma, if
at all, there can be one.
What are the sources of the, what are the
text, we refer to?
We will talk about them also.
There are Prasthanatrayi, the three texts,
that comprise the base of
Indian theorising in Ethics.
Bhagwat Gita is one of them.
The Brahma Sutra is another.
Now, the
Theory of Karma is something, that we would
engage with, and find, how is it explicable
in
modern terms.
Now, in the course of this module, find that,
how is Indian Metaphysics, or Indian
Epistemology, relate to Indian Ethics.
Is, Indian Ethics, deeply otherworldly?
So, let us explore, what are the various perspectives,
to the debates in Indian Philosophy.
And,
what are the pre-suppositions, for the Indian
theorising in Ethics.
That is, Indian Ethics definitely
dependent on the notion of god.
Well.
Most of us, may be more familiar with, the
Indian
mythology.
And, mythology has bring-forth, many of these
debates in a, very engaging form.
Some of these interesting debates could be
like, about the loyalty of Karna, as a character
in
Mahabharata, doing the right thing, or doing
what is just, and his loyalty to his friend,
Duryodhana.
Now, a moral engagement, or a moral theorising
comes about, when we have a
conflict between two things that are right.
Two choices, that are both necessary, but
cannot both
be met.
And, sometimes, and mostly, one at the cost
of the other.
So, this is where, Indian mythologies have
raised various debates.
And then, well, has it been
ritualistic.
Well.
Very often, we have had the notion of Pancha
Siddhis.
And, after which, Sita has
been left out, as a sati.
Now, these are examples of mythological stories,
that have engaged with
the notion of Ethics, and brought forward
the problems of the moral existence, that
human beings
lead.
And, what are the moral problems, that once
comes across.
And, how people have tackled
it.
So, of ram, of Sita’s test by Agni Pariksha.
It is a test by fire.
And, these are all examples of
moral problems, raised in Indian mythology.
Well.
Apart from the Theory of Karma, the next we
talk about 
Nishkama Karma, which is again, another theory
of an action.
I am leaving of the
diacritical marks, for the time being.
But, there is a system of diacritical marks
to put down,
terms of Sanskrit in English alphabets.
Okay.
Now, Nishkama Karma is again, what many of
us would be familiar with, the various things
that
happen, is that the desire-less action, is
that possible, is that futile, and what is
the deeper debate
in that.
Well, apart from Nishkama Karma, we go ahead
to Gandhian Ethics, which perhaps talks
about the modern day version of Gandhi, seen
as an ethical spiritual leader.
Of course, this is
something, that we would be tackling, towards
the end.
So, in fact, if there may be a minor correction
of the syllabus, which would be mentioned
on
your website.
I hope, it is updated by the time, you have
access to it.
So, we can actually go to
the Purusharthas, or the various goals of
human life, that are to be pursued in a human
life.
So,
there are roughly divided into four, which
is learning, material, prosperity, or living
by the
pleasures, or enjoying the pleasures.
Meanwhile, being just, and doing the duty,
as it is.
And thereof, is a final Purusharthas, or the
aim or goal of live is, moksha or liberation.
We will talk about, all those four Purusharthas,
when
we talk about Purusharthas.
And then, when we go ahead, we will talk about
the Buddhist Ethics,
and Jain Ethics, followed by finally it would
be, Gandhian Ethics.
So, we talk about Buddhist
Ethics.
How Ethics or Moral Philosophy, has been tackled
in Buddhism.
How the Jains have tackled their Ethics?
And, then finally, we talk about Gandhian
Ethics.
In
this, we will also be trying to cover, as
many ancillary problems, that come up.
Now, we need to
think, or we will need to collate, that what
would be our basic knowledge, about Indian
Ethics.
That, how apart from folklore and culture,
that we have been raised in, what has been
the notion
of moral theorising in the Indian Tradition.
So, when we engage with some of the text,
that is referred to, and we will find out,
well, how
moral theorising has taken place.
And, whether Indian theorising, has been moral
or not.
And,
this will raise some of the crucial problems,
in the moral theorising, that takes place
in the Indian
Tradition.
So, let us proceed to know more about, how
Ethics takes place in the Indian Tradition.
