The Transcendental Philosophy of Krishnachandra: An Indian Approach to Human Life

Abstract

The present article humbly proposes that, inspired by Kant, one of the greatest modern Indian philosophers, Krishnachandra Bhattacharyya, was doing a sort of phenomenology in the name of “Transcendental Psychology” without knowing of the existence of Husserl and his works. The task of a philosopher or the reflecting consciousness, says Krishnachandra, is to practice a kind of regress towards transcendental subjectivity in order to realize the subject as freedom. At the final stage of this, the subject-object distinction vanishes altogether and thereby the Absolute is achieved. Krishnachandra, being influenced by Kantian-Hegelian philosophy and being committed to the Indian philosophical tradition, has advocated a special kind of phenomenology that is both descriptive and prescriptive. The goal of his transcendental philosophy is mokṣa (liberation).