1001Philosophers

Most Famous Indian Philosophy Philosophers

Indian philosophy comprises a family of traditions stretching from the Vedic and Upanishadic literature through Buddhist, Jain, and the six orthodox schools of Hinduism. Its central concerns include the nature of consciousness, the relation between the individual self and ultimate reality, the means of liberation, and the careful classification of valid sources of knowledge. Indian thinkers developed sophisticated logic, philosophy of language, and ethics in dialogue and argument across these schools, producing a continuous tradition of metaphysical and soteriological inquiry.

Philosophers in this tradition

  • Buddha c. 563 BC – c. 483 BC · Indian

    Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha or Awakened One, was the founder of Buddhism, traditionally said to have lived in northern India in the fifth century BC. Born into the r...

  • Nagarjuna c. 150 – c. 250 · Indian

    Nagarjuna was a 2nd or 3rd-century AD Indian Mahayana Buddhist philosopher and the founder of the Madhyamaka or Middle Way school, regarded as one of the most important philosop...

  • Adi Shankara 788 – 820 · Indian

    Adi Shankara was an Indian philosopher and theologian who consolidated the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta, the school of non-dualism. Working in a brief but extraordinarily product...

  • Patanjali c. 200 AD – c. 250 AD · Indian

    Patanjali was the Indian sage to whom the Yoga Sutras, the foundational text of the Yoga school of Indian philosophy, are attributed. The Sutras present a concise and systematic...

  • Ramanuja 1017 – 1137 · Indian

    Ramanuja was an Indian theologian and the most important exponent of Vishishtadvaita, or qualified non-dualism, in the Vedanta tradition. Against Adi Shankara's Advaita, he taug...