Understanding Reality as it exists is the foremost occupation of any researcher. Philosophy of Science constitutes the intellectual spine, sans which no research activity or an outcome thereof can truly withstand the harsh scrutiny of research audit, for it is the Philosophy of Science that lays the fundamental premise for a sincere seeker of knowledge to make reasoned choices on each element of the research process: the problem to investigate, questions to ask, the approach of enquiry to answer these questions, and the methods to implement the chosen strategy. The three vertices of the research triangle: Ontology (answering what constitutes reality), Epistemology (answering how to know reality), and Axiology (answering the value or significance of different layers of reality as known) together constitute Philosophy of Science.
The Western (or the Occident) and the Eastern (or the Bharitya) Traditions have essentially differed on all three vertices. The Western World-View is rooted in materialism, wherein reality as perceived and understood only through sense-based data is the only and valid reality. It is dominated by rational thought and scientific knowledge. The Bhartiya World-View emerges from the Vedic Culture, recognising both Empirical as well as Trans-empirical Realities as valid, subject to certain limitations. The differences in these two visions arise primarily due to the differences in culture (thoughts, perceptions and values) these systems developed in. Both kinds of visions of reality - Western and Bhartiya -manifest in their corresponding epistemologies to generate knowledge.
On observing closely, we realize the consequences these assumptions forbear on all aspects of human knowledge. The Western Epistemology of recognizing only the external world (thoughts and objects) as real has led to several contradictions like science vs religion, realism vs constructivism, rationalism vs empiricism, induction vs deduction, nominalism vs realism, methodological individualism vs methodological wholism, and methodological monism vs methodological pluralism. Integral Vision of Reality as envisioned in the Bhartiya World-View has led to Epistemological Resonance, leading the seeker gradually from gross to subtle, external to internal, object to subject, and manifest to unmanifest. Knowledge is not Purush Tantram but Vastu Tantram i.e. it does not depend on the will or action of a person but on sources or means of knowledge (Praman janyam). The Bhartiya Epistemology is thus essentially realistic in nature.
The process of generating knowledge is therefore clearly linked to the philosophy a researcher adheres to.
Hence, this necessitates that the researcher carries a fairly nuanced understanding of the philosophical bedrock upon which her entire research endeavour has been erected.
Philosophy of science, as a branch of philosophy, plays a significant role in the creation of knowledge. It involves a critical examination of various components of research practices and their relationships. It enables a researcher to make a meaningful choice about the research problem, the research questions to investigate the problem, the research strategies to answer these questions and the approaches to social enquiry that accompany these strategies. Further, it also helps the researchers to construct the theory that directs the investigation and identify the sources, forms and types of data used in the research study.
Despite such a crucial role played by philosophy of science in research endeavors, this component is almost skipped in the curriculum of the research methodology course as a pre-PhD coursework of a research degree programme in almost all the Bhartiya universities. In the name of research methodology, research methods broadly containing tools and techniques of data collection and methods of data analysis are covered.
Further, now a days, a lot of things are being talked of about Bhartiya knowledge system highlighting the availability of millions of manuscripts, texts, scholars in different domains of knowledge ranging from philosophy, astronomy, mathematics, grammar to science, engineering and technology, town planning and architecture, health systems, management etc. India's contribution in the fields of number systems, mathematics and astronomy in the first millennium, which led to several other developments, is highly appreciated. However, in the contemporary discourse on the Bhartiya knowledge system, the following questions need due attention:
1. What kind of epistemology and knowledge frameworks were followed in the generation of such kind of enormous stock of knowledge?
2. What are the fundamental differences between the Western world view, its knowledge frameworks and associated paradigms and the corresponding counter Bhartiya world view, its knowledge frameworks and Bhartiya epistemology?
3. What are the peculiar features of Bhartiya epistemology?
4. In what manner can Bhartiya epistemology be a better alternative to explain the contemporary Bhartiya reality?
A modest attempt has been made in the present book to address the above questions. The present book provides a comprehensive and comparative picture of various components of Western philosophy of science and the Bhartiya philosophy of science. The book has been divided into three parts. Part I is generic, dealing with the conceptual foundation of research as a constituent of knowledge generation and world views as a background to understand the process of knowledge generation.
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