Jayarashi Bhatta

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Jayarashi Bhatta ( Sanskrit जयराशि भट्ट Jayarāśi Bhaṭṭa ; * around 770 , † around 830) was an Indian philosopher who is considered a representative of methodical skepticism .

Life

Details of Jayarashi's life are not known. It is believed that he lived in southern India. Only his work Tattvopaplavasimha (The Lion of the Dissolution of All Categories) was found in 1926 and published in 1940.

In research it is discussed whether and to what extent Jayarashi can be assigned to the materialistic school of Charvaka / Lokata. Before the discovery of the tattvopaplavasimha, this was the usual assessment and even the first editors of the text included it in this school. On the other hand, it was objected that Jayarashi does not have a fully developed position of his own, but that his work primarily contains criticisms of the existing traditions. Accordingly, he took a position of agnostic skepticism. Against this is the fact that he quotes verses from Brihaspati , the purely materialistic founder of the materialistic Lokata school, as the only positive reference in several places and that this school is also missing in his reviews, while he all other schools ( i.e. Vedas , Nyaya , Buddhism and Jainism ) attacks with its criticisms.

The Tattvopaplavasimha is above all an epistemological work that is reminiscent of the skeptical philosophy of David Hume . Like the materialistic schools, Jayarashi rejected the existence of a self-existent mind. As a skeptic, he was critical of the epistemological teachings generally accepted in India on perception, inductive inference and credible communication. In doing so, he went beyond the materialists in that he also rejected sensualistic sense perception as the basis of certain knowledge ( pramana ), because the senses can be deceived. Therefore the teaching of the materialists of the elements, the four tattvas (fire, earth, water, air), the combination of which results in all physical objects, is according to experience, but not certain. Inductive inferences also do not offer reliable knowledge. Neither can the testimony of third parties serve as a guarantee of knowledge, since this has no reliable foundation in the same way. All conceivable sources of knowledge are uncertain for Jayarashi. Jayarashi has therefore spoken out in favor of an unreflective common sense as the guiding principle of life practice. This includes the rejection of a belief in a supernatural world, in transcendent spiritual institutions and any belief in gods. Because there is no soul ( atman ) beyond earthly life, there can be no transmigration of souls ( samsara ), no retaliation ( karma ) and also no redemption ( moksha ). All of these forms of philosophical and religious speculation have no evidence for Jayarashi . Ritual acts ( Dharma ) have no meaning. The only thing that remains in a life in this world is an orientation towards prosperity and personal pleasure. In this orientation there are similarities to Epicureanism .

plant

  • Sukhlāljī Saṁghavī, Rasiklāl C. Pārīkh (Ed.): Tattvopaplavasimha of Shri Jayarasi Bhatta. Edited with an introduction and indices. Gaekwad Oriental Series 87, Oriental Institute, Baroda 1940 (Reprinted: Bauddha Bharati Series 20, Varanasi 1987). [Edition of the full Sanskrit text].
  • Tattvopaplavasiṃhaḥ, ed. by Shuchita Mehta, ISBN 978-81-7110-365-2

literature

  • Narayan Campawat, "Jayarasi Bhatta", in Great Thinkers of the Eastern World , Ian McGready, ed., New York: Harper Collins, 1995, pp. 202-206. ISBN 0-06-270085-5
  • Eli Franco :, Perception, Knowledge and Disbelief: A Study of Jayarāśi's Skepticism . Second, expanded edition Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi 1994, ISBN 978-8-12081119-5 ( 1st edition online ) [contains the first half of the Tattvopaplavasiṃhaḥ in Sanskrit as well as the English translation with notes]
    • Review: Karel Werner: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 58 (3/1995), 578
  • Pradeep P. Gokhale: Nagarjuna's skepticism vis-à-vis those of Jayarasi and Sriharsa, The Philosophical Quarterly V (1 - 2/1999)
  • Walter Ruben: About the Tattvopaplavasimha of Jayarasi Bhatta, an agnostic criticism of knowledge: (Lecture given at the 24th International Orientalist Congress, Munich 1957), published in: Wiener Zeitschrift für diekunde Süd- und Ostasiens und Archiv für Indian Philosophie, II (1958), 140-153

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eli Franco: Perception, Knowledge and Disbelief: A Study of Jayarāśi's Skepticism . Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi 1994, foreword
  2. ↑ Piotr Balcerowicz:  Jayarāśi. In: Edward N. Zalta (Ed.): Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy . , Section: "1.2 Native Place of Jayarāśi Bhaṭṭa"
  3. ↑ Sukhlāljī Saṁghavī, Rasiklāl C. Pārīkh (ed.): Tattvopaplavasimha of Shri Jayarasi Bhatta. Edited with an introduction and indices. Gaekwad Oriental Series 87, Oriental Institute, Baroda 1940
  4. ↑ Stephen H. Phillips: Classical Indian Metaphysics: Refutations of Realism and the Emergence of "New Logic". Open Court Publishing, La Salle 1995, 71-74
  5. ^ Walter Ruben: About the Tattvopaplavasimha of Jayarashi Bhatta, an agnostic criticism of knowledge: (Lecture given at the 24th International Orientalist Congress, Munich 1957), published in: Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Süd- und Ostasiens und Archiv für Indian Philosophie, II (1958), 140-153 and Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya : In defense of materialism in ancient India: A Study of Carvaka / Lokayata, People's Publishing House, New Delhi 1989, Chapter 2.6: Jayarāśi ', 36 ff.
personal data
SURNAME Bhatta, Jayarashi
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Indian philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH around 770
DATE OF DEATH around 830