Nyya Stra on Philosophical Method

Autorentext

Victor A. van Bijlert was until retirement Lecturer of Indian Religions and Sanskrit, Faculty of Religion and Theology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He is the author of Vedantic Hinduism in Colonial Bengal (Routledge, 2021).

Zusammenfassung

Nyya Stra offers a new English translation of the text ascribed to Akapda, an Indian philosopher who lived around the beginning of the Common Era. The translation is accompanied by the original Sanskrit text and an original commentary.

The commentary explains every stra separately and identifies the sources of the Nyya Stra. It analyses the way older ideas on epistemology, logic, and soteriology were presented as a new coherent system of thought. The book puts forward the main goal of the Nyya Stra: to define what it considered the basic tenets of a soteriology and how the goal of this soteriology could be reached by rationally applying epistemological and logical methods to finding out the truth. In turn, this truth was thought to lead to the ultimate soteriological goal of freedom from suffering. Showing the coherence of the text and its ultimate goal being soteriological, the new commentary also discusses many scholarly issues regarding the Nyya Stra and its position in the history of Indian philosophy.

This book will be of interest to researchers studying Indian philosophy, world philosophies, epistemology, logic, philosophical method, art of debate, soteriology, rationalism, spirituality, Hinduism, Indian religions, and religious studies.

Inhalt

Introduction Chapter 1a The use; Means of valid cognition; Objects worth knowing; On the method, first part; Established tenets; The method defined; Further parts of the method Chapter 1b Verbalised forms; Fallacious reasons; Deliberate misinterpretation; General inferential mistakes Chapter 2a Doubt; General characteristics of the means of valid cognition; Definition of perception; Perception is inference; Whole made up of parts; Inference; Present; Comparison; Statement in general; Statement in detail Chapter 2b Four means of valid cognition; Non-eternity of sound; Modifications of sound; Ascertaining the meaning of words Chapter 3a The different senses; The self is separate from the body; The organ of sight is not single; The self is different from the mind; The self is eternal; Physical body; Senses derive from the elements; Differences between the sense organs; Sense objects Chapter 3b Understanding is not eternal; Momentariness in general; Understanding as a quality of the self; Understanding springs up and comes to a final end; Understanding not a quality of the body; Mind; The body brought about by unseen causes Chapter 4a Worldly activities and moral flaws; Three types of moral flaws; Hereafter; The material cause is emptiness; The material cause is the Lord; Things come into being without cause; Refuting that everything is impermanent; Refuting that everything is permanent; Refuting that everything is totally particular; Refuting the emptiness of everything; Refuting enumerations; Fruits of action; Suffering; Final liberation Chapter 4b True knowledge; Parts and wholes consisting of parts; That which is without parts; Refuting the breaking up of outer objects; Increasing true knowledge; Protecting true knowledge Chapter 5a Fallacious indications of a true counter-position; Six rejoinders; Two rejoinders; Infinite regress and a generally perceived fact that is contrary; Non-emergence; Doubt; Subsection; Absence of a reason; Implication; Non-differentiation; What is truly possible; Perception; Non-perception; What is not eternal; What is eternal; Effect; Six positions in a fallacious debate Chapter 5b Five grounds for losing an argument; Four grounds for losing an argument; Three grounds for losing an argument; Repetitiveness; Inability to give an answer; Assenting to the opinion of the opponent; Unusual statements; Bibliography; Index