Essay name: Nyaya-Vaisheshika (critical and historical study)
Author:
Aruna Rani
Affiliation: Panjab University / Department of Sanskrit
This essay studies Nyaya-Vaisheshika鈥擜 combination of two of the six orthodox schools of Indian philosophy. The study also discusses in detail the authors of various works and critically analyzes key concepts of Nyaya-Vaisesika. Such Indian philosophies seek the direct realization of the Atman (the self) to attain ultimate freedom and bliss.
Chapter 3 - Theory of Pramanas (epistemology)
19 (of 105)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
Download the PDF file of the original publication
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
116
person who has a direct knowledge of the truths
communicated by him. So we see that perceptual knowledge
is the ultimate ground of all other knowledge by inference,
comparison and testimony. J.S. Mill recognized this truth
when he said that "the truths known by intuition are the
original premises from which all others are inferred"
Secondly, perception is the final test of all
We may know the truth by other means also.
knowledge.
1 But the knowledge from inference, comparison and
testimony requires confirmation but the perceptual
knowledge needs not any further confirmation. V膿tsy膩yana
says, "When a man seeks the knowledge of a certain thing,
if he is told of it by a trustworthy person and has the
verbal cognition of the thing, there is still a desire in
his mind to retify his information by mans of inference
through particular indicative features and even after he
has been able to get the inferential knowledge of the
thing, he is still desirous of actually seeing the thing
with his eyes, but when he has once perceived the thing
directly, his desires are at rest and he does not seek
for any other kind of knowledge."
2 In Western philosophy, the validity of perception
1. J.S.Mill, A System of Logic, Page 3.
2. Vatsyayena, Nyaya Bhasya, 1.1.3.
