School of thought

Vedanta

Tradition

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Classification

Period
c. 200 CE onward
Regions
South Asia (origin)
Domains
Metaphysics, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Religion

Overview

Vedanta ('end of the Vedas') is the most influential school of Indian philosophy, interpreting the Upanishads, Brahma Sutras, and Bhagavad Gita. Śaṅkara's Advaita (non-dual) Vedanta teaches that Brahman alone is real, the world is maya (illusion), and the individual self (Atman) is identical with Brahman. Ramanuja and Madhva offered theistic alternatives. As a distinct darśana Vedānta is usually dated from the Brahma Sūtras, whose composition is placed anywhere between roughly 200 BCE and 400 CE; the start year of 200 CE is a working date within that range, not a settled one.

Key ideas

  • Advaita (Non-Dualism): Śaṅkara's radical teaching: the distinction between self and Brahman is caused by ignorance (avidya). In truth, there is only one reality — Brahman — and 'you are that.'
  • Maya: The world of multiplicity is not ultimately real but a superimposition (adhyasa) of ignorance upon Brahman — like mistaking a rope for a snake.
  • Three Levels of Reality: Advaita distinguishes paramarthika (absolute reality — Brahman), vyavaharika (empirical reality — the everyday world), and pratibhasika (illusory — dreams, mirages).

Key figures

Śaṅkara (Adi Shankaracharya) · Ramanuja · Madhva · Badarayana

Methods used

Questions engaged

  • Existence of the Self

    Against no-self views, Vedānta affirms a real, enduring self (ātman) established by the Upaniṣads; its schools then differ on the self's relation to brahman — strict identity in Advaita, distinct-yet-dependent in Viśiṣṭādvaita and Dvaita.

Influenced by

  • Vedic Philosophy

    Treats the Upaniṣadic sentences as the only means of knowing brahman, which reasoning alone cannot reach; Śaṅkara's argument accordingly turns on reading identity statements such as 'that thou art'.

Reacts to

  • Buddhism
  • Classical Samkhya

    Śaṅkara's Brahma-Sūtra commentary rejects Sāṃkhya's claim that unconscious prakṛti could produce an ordered cosmos, arguing that only conscious Brahman can be its source.

References