Two Hundred Years of Debate

Abstract

The Greeks' evident fascination with the Indian “philosophers” they encountered reflects the fact that both peoples had a strong tradition of speculative thought. Though it takes the present discussion outside the chronological limits of the fourth to second centuries BCE, it is impossible to assess the interactions of Indian and Greek thinkers in the period without considering the possible antecedents from the sixth century BCE, and, to some extent, the later echoes of Indian ideas in Neo-Platonism. Accordingly, this chapter consists of a series of case studies, either of possible philosophical common ground, or of known personal interactions of Greeks with Indian thought. They are a heterogeneous group, but the cumulative effect will be a nuanced view of the Greek experience of Indian thought.