ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part provides a story of general optimism of ancient and medieval periods in acquiring reliable sensory knowledge of the external world that turns to skepticism at the early modern scientific turn. Indian philosophy, like Western discourses, finds error theories to correct faulty perception with reason. The fault usually occurs in reaching for the wrong memory, which get fused to the perception-like event. The part discusses both the uniqueness and the commonality of the problems both Western and non-Western philosophical traditions face. Indian philosophy bears a similar concern as Chinese philosophy, with similar agrarian examples to boot. One wonders of the thorough-going realism of both Indian and Chinese philosophies, one that even its greatest expositors admit as being naive to the perplexities and hostilities of a global and diverse canon of arguments and examples.
