Abstract

How does the Indian philosophical tradition view the relationship between human beings and nature? Is human existence an integral, though highly evolved, part of nature? Or is human existence radically different from natural existence? This question is fundamental and important, for its answer determines basic cultural values and life practices, including the primary aims of life (puruṣārthas) and the norms of life‐stages and social classes (varṇāśramadharma). As might be expected, tradition does not provide us with a single, univocal answer to this question. Because the Indian tradition is made up of many sub‐traditions, each with its own answer, and because these traditions are continuously changing, the answer varies across time, as well as across traditions. Nonetheless, allowing for necessary qualifications, these different answers share the view that both questions are to be answered in the affirmative. That is, the tradition's shared core of understanding across sub‐traditions and time is that human existence is both an integral part of nature and that it is radically different. How is the apparent conflict between these two views resolved within the tradition? Is the attempted resolution successful? It is these two questions that form the problematic of this essay.