Methods for Studying Classical Philosophical Texts in Indian and European Thought Traditions

Abstract

A classical philosophical text has many definitions that fix its specific features in contrast to (a) a non-classical philosophical text, and (b) a non-philosophical text. We understand by a classical philosophical text a text in which a certain worldview is reconstructed (or problems are solved), and which was created in the classical era (dating for Europe and India will be different). The most ap­propriate form of such a text would be the form of a treatise, which can be de­fined as a systematic discourse on a given topic. If we look away from historical and philosophical dating, although they are important, and look at the philoso­phical treatise from the point of view of language, then the linguistic parameters of this text, which will allow us to distinguish it from another, in addition to the form of reasoning (dialogue, monologue, polylogue), will include a set of open philosophical concepts set by the author and unfolded by as the reader reads. Thus, a classical philosophical text can be defined as a systematic (accord­ing to certain canons) reasoning, in which there are open, that is, rigidly or unam­biguously not fixed by the author philosophical terms. The article analyzes the main techniques and methods of working with philosophical text (termino­logy, reconstruction, condensation of meaning, manifestation of latent informa­tion encrypted in the text, etc.). This analysis is compared with the methods of working with philosophical text proposed in India (usually in the form of com­mentary). Since when working with original texts, the researcher’s attitude re­lated to his personal explanation of the diversity of cultures and possible solu­tions to this problem is important, it is important to demonstrate the basic theories of translation. Thus, the article contains: 1) description of the general definition and methods of working with the classical philosophical text in India and in Europe; 2) bringing to the fore (and justification) as a characteristic lin­guistic feature of a philosophical text, the presence in it of open terms used in a text aimed at solving ideological issues; 3) description of special methods of working with philosophical text in India, offered by the autochthonous tradi­tion. Possible methodological collisions of Indian and European cultures are ana­lyzed on the example of Adluri’s book.