NyĀya
NYĀYA. Nyāya is an orthodox, classical Indian school of logic and epistemology established in the second century CE with the writing of the Nyāyasūtras by Gautama (Akṣapāda Gautama). It is described as concerned with the science of argumentation (ānvīkśiki) and as the measure of all other sciences (pramāṇaśāstra). Unlike modern Western logic, which is mainly formal and is complemented by an epistemology that presupposes the separateness of the study of epistemology, ethics, and metaphysics and religion, Nyāya defines its method as one of considering the science of argumentation as an instrument for the knowledge of reality that must lead to the attainment of the Highest Good—namely freedom from suffering. The very first aphorism of the Nyāyasūtras thus defines its purpose and content in the following manner:
It is the knowledge of the real essence of the following sixteen categories that leads to the attainment of the Highest Good: 1. the means of right cognition, 2. the objects of right cognition, 3. doubt, 4. motive, 5. example, 6. theory, 7. factors of inference, 8. cogitation/decision, 9. demonstrated truth, 10. discussion 11. disputation, 12. wrangling, 13. fallacious reasons, 14. casuistry, 15. futile rejoinders and 16. clinchers. (Gautama, Nyāyasūtras, tr. Ganganatha Jha, 1939, p.
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