BOOKS ON THE SIX SYSTEMS OF PHILOSOPHY

System of Six Vedic Darshanas

The system of the six darshanas, or schools of Indian Philosophy, is a codification and an attempt to make coherent, within the sphere of Vedic belief, traditions of rigorous philosophical debate which have marked differences between them, yet which share a common terminology and a common commentarial style.

The six systems of Indian Philosophy are:

Samkhya, the ‘enumeration’ school which posits dualism between matter (prakriti) and the self (purusha), both of which are real, though ontologically distinct.

Yoga, the school of Patanjali which assumes the metaphysics of Samkhya.

Mimamsa, the tradition of Vedic exegesis which lays down the rules for interpretation of the Vedas and the correct performance of sacrifices (yajna).

Vedanta, the tradition which develops from the Upanishads and which argues for the reality on the one and, in one of its forms, denies the reality of the many.

Nyaya, the school of logic.

Vaisesika, the atomist school, associated with Nyaya, which assumes the reality of the many; the constituents of existence do not arise from a shared source; rather, each phenomenon is distinct and separate.