Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge

by K.N. Jayatilleke

This book is based primarily on the source material available in the Pali Canon, studied historically and philosophically in the light of the contemporary, earlier and later literary evidence related to the subject. The antiquity and authenticity of the material is vouchsafed by the literary, linguistic, ideological, sociological, and historical evidence existing into Pali Canon itself. The book traces the origin of the theory of knowledge and its development in early Buddhism - the Hinayana Buddhism of Pali Canon.

Genres: Buddhism, Philosophy, Religion

519 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1963

Reviews

[Polaris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an incredibly dense book with every sentence full of information. The writer neither dumbs down the information not the language in which is written. It is written in an academic language which may or may not be liked by all.
The writing while full of information lacks structure in general. There is no proper beginning or end to answers of the questions being asked.
While I understand that linguistics play a key role in interpreting religious texts, the book spends way too much time in deciphering meanings of Pali and Sanskrit words than it ought to have in my opinion.

If you are looking to get a reasonably in depth knowledge of the different kinds of philosophical schools that existed outside orthodox Hindu philosophies, interested in the logic and epistemology they deployed to defend their ideas, and understand Buddhism's own epistemology, philosophy and their opinions about other philosophies, you might definitely want to consider this one.

[Anthony Murawski · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unreadable

It looks like the pages were dropped on the floor several times and ended up completely out of order before being scanned into pdf format.