A Synopsis of Science
From the Standpoint of the Nyaya Philosophy

This two-volume 1852 work, in English and Sanskrit, is an excellent primary source on the educational aspects of British imperialism.

James R. Ballantyne (Author)

9781108056328, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 21 February 2013

276 pages
21.6 x 14 x 1.6 cm, 0.35 kg

James Robert Ballantyne (1813–64) taught oriental languages in India for sixteen years, producing grammars of Hindi, Sanskrit and Persian, along with translations of Hindu philosophy. In 1859, for the use of Christian missionaries, he prepared a guide to Hinduism, in English and Sanskrit (also reissued in this series). Published in two volumes in 1852, Synopsis of Science was intended to introduce his Indian pupils to Western science by using the framework of Hindu Nyaya philosophy, which was familiar to them and which Ballantyne greatly respected. Volume 1 proceeds through a series of aphorisms exemplifying Western logic, forms of argument, the workings of the body and the senses, basic astronomy, geography, laws of Newtonian motion, the action of liquids, pneumatics, acoustics and optics. The second part of the volume is a Sanskrit translation. Overall, the work serves as an excellent primary source on the educational aspects of British imperialism.

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Translation of the Sanskrit preface
Books 1–2
Sanskrit text.

Subject Areas: Philosophy of science [PDA]