View source for Biography:Bimal Krishna Matilal

{{Short description|British-Indian philosopher (1935–1991)}}
{{Use Indian English|date=October 2018}}
{{Infobox philosopher
| honorific_prefix  = 
| name              = Bimal Krishna Matilal
| native_name       = <!-- add name in the philosopher's language or script if different from the English name -->
| honorific_suffix  = 
| image             =  <!-- filename only, i.e. without the File: (or Image:) prefix or enclosing brackets --> 
| image_size        = 
| alt               = 
| caption           = 
| other_names       = 
| birth_name        = <!-- only use if different from name -->
| birth_date        = 1 June 1935
| birth_place       = Jaynagar Majilpur, Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India<br />{{small|(present-day South 24 Parganas, West Bengal, {{wipe|India}})}}
| death_date        = 8 June 1991 (aged 56)
| death_place       = Oxford, {{wipe|England}}, {{wipe|United Kingdom}}
| death_cause       = 
| residence         = 
| nationality       = British
| spouse            =
| partner           =
| education         = [[Social:Sanskrit|Sanskrit]], [[Mathematics]] and [[Logic]]
| alma_mater        = Maulana Azad College<br>[[Organization:Harvard University|Harvard University]]
| notable_works     = Founding editor of the [[Philosophy:Journal of Indian Philosophy|Journal of Indian Philosophy]]
| awards            = Padma Bhushan (1990)
| signature         = 
| signature_size    = 
| signature_alt     = 
| era               = 
| region            = 
| school_tradition  = 
| institutions      = 
| thesis_title      = <!--(or  | thesis1_title =  and  | thesis2_title = )-->
| thesis_url        = <!--(or  | thesis1_url  =   and  | thesis2_url  =  )-->
| thesis_year       = <!--(or  | thesis1_year =   and  | thesis2_year =  )-->
| doctoral_advisor  = <!--(or  | doctoral_advisors = )-->
| academic_advisors = 
| doctoral_students = 
| notable_students  = 
| main_interests    = 
| notable_ideas     = 
| influences        = <!-- only add entries which are explained and cited in the body of the article (or cited here)-->
| influenced        = <!-- only add entries which are explained and cited in the body of the article (or cited here)-->
| website           = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} -->
}}

'''Bimal Krishna Matilal''' (1 June 1935 – 8 June 1991) was an eminent [[Biography:Philosopher|philosopher]]<ref name="Padma Awards"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://caravanmagazine.in/literature/bimal-krishna-matilal-epics|title=Bimal Krishna Matilal on the epics|last=Mukim|first=Mantra|date=1 March 2019|website=The Caravan|language=en|access-date=2019-12-07}}</ref> whose writings presented the [[Philosophy:Indian logic|Indian philosophical tradition]] as a comprehensive system of logic incorporating most issues addressed by themes in Western [[Philosophy:Philosophy|philosophy]]. Born in Calcutta, he lived and worked in Calcutta, Harvard, Toronto and Oxford. From 1977 to 1991, he served as the Spalding Professor of Eastern Religion and Ethics at the [[Organization:University of Oxford|University of Oxford]].

==Education==
Literate in [[Social:Sanskrit|Sanskrit]] from an early age, Matilal was also drawn towards [[Mathematics]] and [[Logic]]. He was trained in the traditional Indian philosophical system by leading scholars of the Sanskrit College, where he himself was a teacher from 1957 to 1962. He was taught by scholars like pandit Taranath Tarkatirtha and Kalipada Tarkacharya. He also interacted with pandit Ananta Kumar Nyayatarkatirtha, Madhusudan Nyayacharya and Visvabandhu Tarkatirtha. He was awarded the ''upadhi'' (degree) of Tarkatirtha (master of Logic) in 1962.

While teaching at the Sanskrit College (an affiliated college of the University of Calcutta) between 1957 and 1962, Matilal came in contact with Daniel Ingalls, an Indologist at [[Organization:Harvard University|Harvard University]], who encouraged him to join the PhD program there. Matilal secured a Fulbright fellowship and completed his PhD under Ingalls on the [[Philosophy:Navya-Nyāya|Navya-Nyāya]] doctrine of [[Negation|negation]], between 1962 and 1965. During this period, he also studied with [[Biography:Willard Van Orman Quine|Willard Van Orman Quine]]. Subsequently, he was professor of Sanskrit at the [[Organization:University of Toronto|University of Toronto]], and in 1977 he was elected Spalding Professor at Oxford, succeeding [[Biography:Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan|Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan]] and [[Biography:Robert Charles Zaehner|Robert Charles Zaehner]].

==Death==
Matilal died of cancer on 8 June 1991.

==Awards==
* Padma Bhushan 1990<ref name="Padma Awards">{{cite web |url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |title=Padma Awards |publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India |date=2015 |access-date=21 July 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015193758/http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |archive-date=15 October 2015 }}</ref>

==Works by Matilal==
In his work, he presented Indian logic, particularly Nyāya-[[Philosophy:Vaisheshika|Vaiśeṣika]], [[Philosophy:Mīmāṃsā|Mīmāṃsā]] and [[Philosophy:Buddhist philosophy|Buddhist philosophy]], as being relevant in modern philosophical discourse. Matilal presented Indian Philosophical thought more as a synthesis rather than a mere exposition. This helped create a vibrant revival of interest in Indian philosophical tradition as a relevant source of ideas rather than a dead discipline.

He was also the founding editor of the ''[[Philosophy:Journal of Indian Philosophy|Journal of Indian Philosophy]]''.

===Books===
*{{cite book|author=Bimal Krishna Matilal|title=Epistemology, Logic and Grammar in Indian Philosophical Analysis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kknBnAEACAAJ|year=1971|publisher=De Gruyter|isbn=9789997821942}}<ref>{{cite journal|last=Berg|first=Jan|title=''Epistemology, Logic, and Grammar in Indian Philosophical Analysis'' by Bimal Krishna Matilal|journal=The Journal of Symbolic Logic|date=December 1975|volume=40|issue=4|pages=578–579|jstor=2271783|doi=10.2307/2271783 |s2cid=117338922 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Rocher|first=Rosane|title=''Epistemology, Logic, and Grammar in Indian Philosophical Analysis'' by Bimal K. Matilal|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|date=April–June 1975|volume=95|issue=2|pages=331–332|jstor=600381|doi=10.2307/600381}}</ref>
*{{cite book|author=Bimal Krishna Matilal|title=Logic, Language, and Reality: an introduction to Indian philosophical studies|url=https://archive.org/details/logiclanguagerea0000mati|url-access=registration|year=1985|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-0008-3}}<ref>{{cite journal|last=Sen|first=Pranab Kumar|title=''Logic, Language and Reality'' by Bimal Krishna Matilal|journal=Mind|date=January 1989|volume=98|series=New Series|issue=389|pages=150–154|jstor=2255069|doi=10.1093/mind/XCVIII.389.150}}</ref>
*{{cite book|author=Bimal Krishna Matilal|title=Perception: An Essay on Classical Indian Theories of Knowledge|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6sB3QwAACAAJ|year=1985|publisher=Clarendon}}<ref>{{cite journal|last=Trotignon|first=Pierre|title=''Perception: An Essay on Classical Indian Theories of Knowledge'' by Bimal Krishna Matilal|journal=Revue Philosophique de la France et de l'Étranger|date=April–June 1988|volume=178|series=Apologétique, temporalité, monde sensible|issue=2|pages=216–217|jstor=41095766}}</ref>
*''Logical and Ethical Issues: An essay on the Indian Philosophy of Religion'', Calcutta University 1982 (repr. Chronicle Books, Delhi 2004)
*''Navya Nyâya Doctrine of Negation'', Harvard Oriental Series 46, 1968
*{{cite book|author=Bimal Krishna Matilal|title=The Word and the World: India's contribution to the study of language|url=https://archive.org/details/wordworldindiasc0000mati|url-access=registration|year=1990|publisher=Oxford University Press| isbn=978-0-19-562515-8 }}<ref>{{cite journal|last=Jha|first=V. N.|title=''The Word and the World (India's Contribution to the Study of Language)'' by Bimal Krishna Matilal|journal=Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute|year=1995|volume=76|issue=1/4|pages=172–173|jstor=41694389}}</ref>
*{{cite book|author=Bimal Krishna Matilal|title=The Character of Logic in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CvjWAAAAMAAJ|year=1999|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-564896-6}}<ref>{{cite journal|last=Gerow|first=Edwin|s2cid=170622156|title=''The Character of Logic in India'' by Bimal Krishna Matilal; Jonardon Ganeri; Heeraman Tiwari|journal=The Journal of Asian Studies|date=Feb 2000|volume=59|issue=1|pages=203–205|jstor=2658637|doi=10.2307/2658637}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Werner|first=Karel|title=''The Character of Logic in India'' by Bimal Krishna Matilal; Jonardon Ganeri; Heeraman Tiwari|journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London|year=1999|volume=62|issue=1|page=155|jstor=3107426|doi=10.1017/s0041977x00017924| s2cid=162731116 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Barnhart|first=Michael G.|title=''The Character of Logic in India'' by Bimal Krishna Matilal; Jonardon Ganeri; Heeraman Tiwari|journal=Philosophy East and West|date=October 2001|volume=51|series=Nondualism, Liberation, and Language: The Infinity Foundation Lectures at Hawai'i, 1997-2000|issue=4|pages=556–559|jstor=1400170|doi=10.1353/pew.2001.0051 |s2cid=144679476}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Taber|first=John A.|title=''The Character of Logic in India'' by Bimal Krishna Matilal; Jonardon Ganeri; Heeraman Tiwari|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|date=October–December 2001|volume=121|issue=4|pages=681–683|jstor=606527|doi=10.2307/606527}}</ref>
*''Niti, Yukti o Dharma'', (in [[Social:Bengali language|Bengali]]), Ananda Publishers Calcutta 1988.

See also the [https://www.worldcat.org/search?qt=worldcat_org_all&q=bimal+matilal entries in Worldcat].

==See also==
* [[Philosophy:Indian logic|Indian logic]]
* Śākaṭāyana (Matilal discusses the claim that all nominals are ultimately derived from verbal roots)
* [[Philosophy:Nyāya Sūtras|Nyāya Sūtras]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Heeraman Tiwari, Introduction to the ''Logical and Ethical Issues: An essay on the Indian Philosophy of Religion'', University of Calcutta 1982.
* J.N. Mohanty, Introduction to ''Relativism, Suffering and Beyond: Essays in Memory of Bimal K. Matilal'', Edited by J N Mohanty and Purushottama Bilimoria,  Oxford University Press 1997. 
* Daniel Ingalls, [https://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF00180489 In Memoriam Bimal Krishna Matilal], Journal of Indian Philosophy 1991

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060507083244/http://philosophy-ju.org/news%26announce/index.html A conference honouring Matilal] was organized in Jadavpur University in January 2007.

{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 1990–99}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matilal, Bimal Krishna}}
[[Category:Epistemologists]]

{{Sourceattribution|Bimal Krishna Matilal}}