The Three Pillars of Skepticism in Classical India: Nagarjuna, Jayarasi, and Sri Harsa

There is relatively little literature on Indian skepticism, with hardly any monograph on the subject comparable to, e.g., Julia Annas’ and Jonathan Barnes’ The Modes of Scepticism: Ancient Texts and Modern Interpretations (1985), R.J. Hankinson’s The Sceptics: The Arguments of the Philosophers (1995), a series of Richard H. Popkin’s monographs on the history of skepticism, or two recent competing volumes as collective efforts: The Oxford Handbook of Skepticism edited by John Greco (2008) and The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Scepticism edited by Richard Bett (2010). Therefore what promises to provide a survey of the skeptical tradition of South Asia should potentially be regarded as a milestone work in the research on the history of ideas in Indian philosophy and could be the first ever monograph on Indian skepticism. Does the work deliver what it promises? While I argue that the methodology used to reach the conclusion is faulty, the path to the book’s thesis, despite its ultimate lack of support, is engaging and well worth the journey.