Philosophy as Samdarshana

Abstract

Lastly philosophy has always beun pursued for an all comprehensive insight which is its be-all and end-all. That is why in India it has been identified with Darsanasastra, i.e. the system of insight. But Darsana can also be attained and pursued by some people who are not philosophers. For exam lo, even poets, novelists, sciuntists and historians have some insight. But their insight is not philosophical. To distinguish the might of philosophers from that of other scholars, artists and cien-tists, I add the prefix Sam to the word Darsana. I think, the word Samdarshana defines philosophical activity far better than any other word in our vocabulary. Those who coined the word Darsanasastra did not mean that every flash or glimpse is entitled to Darsana. Only those flashes of truth were called Darsanas which were formative of the whole outlook of the person having them. Hence there is a need to redefine philosophy as Samdarshana.