When I closed the last page of The Logic of Ish I felt quietly shaken in the best way possible. The book made me slow down and think again about big questions I usually skim over. It reads like someone patiently guiding you through an old, careful argument and then showing why that argument still matters today.
What the book is about
At its heart the book asks a single deep question: what is the ultimate ground of reality? It works mainly with a classical Indian school of logic called Nyāya and brings into focus Udayanācārya’s arguments that try to show, step by careful step, how reason and evidence can point to an intelligent ground behind the world. The author does not ask you to accept anything on faith; instead he shows how inference and proof were used in that tradition to tackle metaphysical questions.
About the author and his method
Mrittunjoy Guha Majumdar writes from a very unusual place: he is trained as a physicist and also deeply engaged with Indian philosophical thought. That background matters because the book does two things at once — it gives close readings of old texts and it also talks about how those arguments look when we place them next to modern philosophical and scientific ways of thinking. That blend made the book feel both familiar and refreshingly new to me.
How the book is written and how it felt to read it
The writing is clear without being simplistic. Complex ideas are unpacked patiently, with examples and little reminders about what the technical terms mean. I never felt talked down to and I also never felt lost. The rhythm is steady: explanation, example, then the reason why the point matters. Because of that I could follow arguments that might otherwise have felt dry.
Ideas that stayed with me
A few things kept returning to my mind after I finished reading. One is the power of inference as a way to reach beyond immediate perception. Another is the way the Nyāya tradition treats evidence and testimony as serious sources of knowledge, not as blind belief. And finally the book’s attempt to show continuity between careful ancient reasoning and some modern concerns about science, meaning, and explanation felt important — it made me realise that these old tools still have something to say to us.
Final thoughts — why I would recommend it
If you like books that make you think rather than tell you what to think, pick this up. It is for anyone who wants a reasoned, respectful, and intelligent conversation about the biggest questions rather than quick answers. For me it was a rare mix of history, philosophy, and personal invitation to think more clearly about why we look for order and meaning in the world
No comments:
Post a Comment