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Vaisheshika or Vaiśeṣika ( sa, वैशेषिक) is one of the six schools of
Indian philosophy Indian philosophy refers to philosophical traditions of the Indian subcontinent. A traditional Hindu classification divides āstika and nāstika schools of philosophy, depending on one of three alternate criteria: whether it believes the Veda ...
(
Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute th ...
systems) from ancient India. In its early stages, the Vaiśeṣika was an independent
philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...
with its own metaphysics, epistemology, logic, ethics, and soteriology. Over time, the Vaiśeṣika system became similar in its philosophical procedures, ethical conclusions and soteriology to the Nyāya school of Hinduism, but retained its difference in epistemology and metaphysics. The
epistemology Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Epi ...
of the Vaiśeṣika school of Hinduism, like
Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
, accepted only two reliable means to knowledge: direct observation and inference. the Vaiśeṣika school and Buddhism both consider their respective scriptures as indisputable and valid means to knowledge, the difference being that the scriptures held to be a valid and reliable source by Vaiśeṣikas were the
Vedas upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute th ...
. The Vaisheshika school is known for its insights in naturalism.Kak, S. 'Matter and Mind: The Vaisheshika Sutra of Kanada' (2016), Mount Meru Publishing, Mississauga, Ontario, . It is a form of
atomism Atomism (from Greek , ''atomon'', i.e. "uncuttable, indivisible") is a natural philosophy proposing that the physical universe is composed of fundamental indivisible components known as atoms. References to the concept of atomism and its atom ...
in natural philosophy.Analytical philosophy in early modern India
J Ganeri, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
It postulated that all objects in the physical universe are reducible to ''paramāṇu'' (
atom Every atom is composed of a nucleus and one or more electrons bound to the nucleus. The nucleus is made of one or more protons and a number of neutrons. Only the most common variety of hydrogen has no neutrons. Every solid, liquid, gas, a ...
s), and one's experiences are derived from the interplay of substance (a function of atoms, their number and their spatial arrangements), quality, activity, commonness, particularity and inherence.Oliver Leaman, ''Key Concepts in Eastern Philosophy.'' Routledge, , 1999, page 269. Everything was composed of atoms, qualities emerged from aggregates of atoms, but the aggregation and nature of these atoms was predetermined by cosmic forces. Ajivika
metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
included a theory of atoms which was later adapted in the Vaiśeṣika school. According to the Vaiśeṣika school, knowledge and liberation were achievable by a complete understanding of the world of experience. Vaiśeṣika
darshana In Indian religions, ''Darshana'', also spelt ''Darshan'', (Sanskrit: दर्शन, , ) or ''Darshanam'' (darśanam) is the auspicious sight of a deity or a holy person. The term also refers to six traditional schools of Hindu philosophy ...
was founded by Kaṇāda Kashyapa around the 6th to 2nd century BC.


Overview

Although the Vaisheshika system developed independently from the Nyaya school of Hinduism, the two became similar and are often studied together. In its classical form, however, the Vaishesika school differed from the Nyaya in one crucial respect: where Nyaya accepted four sources of valid knowledge, the Vaishesika accepted only two. The
epistemology Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Epi ...
of Vaiśeṣika school of Hinduism accepted only two reliable means to knowledge –
perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous syste ...
and inference. Vaisheshika espouses a form of
atomism Atomism (from Greek , ''atomon'', i.e. "uncuttable, indivisible") is a natural philosophy proposing that the physical universe is composed of fundamental indivisible components known as atoms. References to the concept of atomism and its atom ...
, that the reality is composed of five substances (examples are earth, water, air, fire, and space). Each of these five are of two types, explains Ganeri, (paramāṇu) and composite. A paramāṇu is that which is indestructible, indivisible, and has a special kind of dimension, called “small” (aṇu). A composite is that which is divisible into paramāṇu. Whatever human beings perceive is composite, and even the smallest perceptible thing, namely, a fleck of dust, has parts, which are therefore invisible. The Vaiśeṣikas visualized the smallest composite thing as a “triad” (tryaṇuka) with three parts, each part with a “dyad” (dyaṇuka). Vaiśeṣikas believed that a dyad has two parts, each of which is an atom. Size, form, truths and everything that human beings experience as a whole is a function of parmanus, their number and their spatial arrangements. ''Parama'' means "most distant, remotest, extreme, last" and ''aṇu'' means "atom, very small particle", hence ''paramāṇu'' is essentially "the most distant or last small (i.e. smallest) particle". Vaisheshika postulated that what one experiences is derived from ''dravya'' (substance: a function of atoms, their number and their spatial arrangements), ''guna'' (quality), ''karma'' (activity), ''samanya'' (commonness), ''vishesha'' (particularity) and ''samavaya'' (inherence, inseparable connectedness of everything). The followers of this philosophy are mostly Shaivas. Acharya
Haribhadra Suri Aacharya Haribhadra Suri was a Svetambara mendicant Jain leader, philosopher , doxographer, and author. There are multiple contradictory dates assigned to his birth. According to tradition, he lived c. 459–529 CE. However, in 1919, a Jain m ...
, in his work 'Ṣaḍdarśanasamuccaya' describes the followers of Vaiśeṣika as worshippers of Pashupati or
Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one o ...
.


Epistemology

Hinduism identifies six '' Pramāṇas'' as epistemically reliable means to accurate knowledge and to truths: ''Pratyakṣa'' (perception), ''Anumāna'' (inference), ''Upamāna'' (comparison and analogy), ''Arthāpatti'' (postulation, derivation from circumstances), ''Anupalabdhi'' (non-perception, negative/cognitive proof) and ''Śabda'' (word, testimony of past or present reliable experts). *Eliot Deutsch (2000), in Philosophy of Religion : Indian Philosophy Vol 4 (Editor: Roy Perrett), Routledge, , pages 245-248; *John A. Grimes, A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English, State University of New York Press, , page 238 Gavin Flood, An Introduction to Hinduism, Cambridge University Press, , page 225 Of these epistemology considered only ''pratyakṣa'' (
perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous syste ...
) and ( inference) as reliable means of valid knowledge. Nyaya school, related to Vaiśeṣika, accepts four out of these six.DPS Bhawuk (2011), Spirituality and Indian Psychology (Editor: Anthony Marsella), Springer, , page 172 *''Pratyakṣa'' (प्रत्यक्ष) means perception. It is of two types: external and internal. External perception is described as that arising from the interaction of five senses and worldly objects, while internal perception is described by this school as that of inner sense, the mind.MM Kamal (1998), The Epistemology of the Carvaka Philosophy, Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies, 46(2): 13-16 The ancient and medieval texts of Hinduism identify four requirements for correct perception: ''Indriyarthasannikarsa'' (direct experience by one's sensory organ(s) with the object, whatever is being studied), ''Avyapadesya'' (non-verbal; correct perception is not through hearsay, according to ancient Indian scholars, where one's sensory organ relies on accepting or rejecting someone else's perception), ''Avyabhicara'' (does not wander; correct perception does not change, nor is it the result of deception because one's sensory organ or means of observation is drifting, defective, suspect) and ''Vyavasayatmaka'' (definite; correct perception excludes judgments of doubt, either because of one's failure to observe all the details, or because one is mixing inference with observation and observing what one wants to observe, or not observing what one does not want to observe).Karl Potter (1977), Meaning and Truth, in Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Volume 2, Princeton University Press, Reprinted in 1995 by Motilal Banarsidass, , pages 160-168 Some ancient scholars proposed "unusual perception" as ''pramāṇa'' and called it internal perception, a proposal contested by other Indian scholars. The internal perception concepts included ''pratibha'' (intuition), ''samanyalaksanapratyaksa'' (a form of induction from perceived specifics to a universal), and ''jnanalaksanapratyaksa'' (a form of perception of prior processes and previous states of a 'topic of study' by observing its current state). Further, the texts considered and refined rules of accepting uncertain knowledge from ''Pratyakṣa-pranama'', so as to contrast ''nirnaya'' (definite judgment, conclusion) from ''anadhyavasaya'' (indefinite judgment). *''Anumāna'' (अनुमान) means inference. It is described as reaching a new conclusion and truth from one or more observations and previous truths by applying reason. Observing smoke and inferring fire is an example of ''Anumana''. In all except one Hindu philosophies, this is a valid and useful means to knowledge. The method of inference is explained by Indian texts as consisting of three parts: ''pratijna'' (hypothesis), ''hetu'' (a reason), and ''drshtanta'' (examples).James Lochtefeld, "Anumana" in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 1: A-M, Rosen Publishing. , page 46-47 The hypothesis must further be broken down into two parts, state the ancient Indian scholars: ''sadhya'' (that idea which needs to proven or disproven) and ''paksha'' (the object on which the ''sadhya'' is predicated). The inference is conditionally true if ''sapaksha'' (positive examples as evidence) are present, and if ''vipaksha'' (negative examples as counter-evidence) are absent. For rigor, the Indian philosophies also state further epistemic steps. For example, they demand ''Vyapti'' - the requirement that the ''hetu'' (reason) must necessarily and separately account for the inference in "all" cases, in both ''sapaksha'' and ''vipaksha''. A conditionally proven hypothesis is called a ''nigamana'' (conclusion).


Syllogism

The syllogism of the school was similar to that of the Nyāya school of Hinduism, but the names given by to the 5 members of syllogism are different.


Literature

The earliest systematic exposition of the Vaisheshika is found in the of (or ). This treatise is divided into ten books. The two commentaries on the , and are no more extant. ’s (c. 4th century) is the next important work of this school. Though commonly known as of , this treatise is basically an independent work on the subject. The next Vaisheshika treatise, Candra’s (648) based on ’s treatise is available only in Chinese translation. The earliest commentary available on ’s treatise is ’s (8th century). The other three commentaries are ’s (991), Udayana’s (10th century) and ’s (11th century). ’s which also belongs to the same period, presents the and the principles as a part of one whole. ’s on is also an important work.


The Categories or ''Padārtha''

According to the Vaisheshika school, all things that exist, that can be cognized and named are s (literal meaning: the meaning of a word), the objects of experience. All objects of experience can be classified into six categories, ''dravya'' (substance), (quality), ''karma'' (activity), (generality), (particularity) and (inherence). Later s ( and Udayana and ) added one more category ''
abhava Abhava means non-existence, negation, nothing or absence. It is the negative of Bhava which means being, becoming, existing or appearance. Overview Uddayana divides ''Padārtha'' (Categories) into ''Bhava'' (existence) which is real, and ''Abhav ...
'' (non-existence). The first three categories are defined as ''artha'' (which can perceived) and they have real objective existence. The last three categories are defined as (product of intellectual discrimination) and they are logical categories. #'' Dravya'' (substance): The substances are conceived as 9 in number. They are, (earth), ''ap'' (water), ''tejas'' (fire), (air), (ether), (time), ''dik'' (space), (self or soul) and ''manas'' (mind). The first five are called s, the substances having some specific qualities so that they could be perceived by one or the other external senses. # ''
Guṇa ( sa, गुण) is a concept in Hinduism, Jainism and Sikhism, which can be translated as "quality, peculiarity, attribute, property".
'' (quality): The mentions 17 s (qualities), to which added another 7. While a substance is capable of existing independently by itself, a (quality) cannot exist so. The original 17 s (qualities) are, (colour), ''rasa'' (taste), ''gandha'' (smell), (touch), (number), (size/dimension/quantity), (individuality), (conjunction/accompaniments), (disjunction), ' (priority), ''aparatva'' (posteriority), ''buddhi'' (knowledge), ''sukha'' (pleasure), (pain), (desire), (aversion) and ''prayatna'' (effort). To these added ''gurutva'' (heaviness), ''dravatva'' (fluidity), ''sneha'' (viscosity), ''dharma'' (merit), ''adharma'' (demerit), (sound) and (faculty). # ''
Karma Karma (; sa, कर्म}, ; pi, kamma, italic=yes) in Sanskrit means an action, work, or deed, and its effect or consequences. In Indian religions, the term more specifically refers to a principle of cause and effect, often descriptively ...
'' (activity): The ''karma''s (activities) like s (qualities) have no separate existence, they belong to the substances. But while a quality is a permanent feature of a substance, an activity is a transient one. (ether), (time), ''dik'' (space) and (self), though substances, are devoid of ''karma'' (activity). # '' Sāmānya'' (generality): Since there are plurality of substances, there will be relations among them. When a property is found common to many substances, it is called . # (particularity): By means of , we are able to perceive substances as different from one another. As the ultimate atoms are innumerable so are the s. # (inherence): defined as the relation between the cause and the effect. defined it as the relationship existing between the substances that are inseparable, standing to one another in the relation of the container and the contained. The relation of is not perceivable but only inferable from the inseparable connection of the substances.


The atomic theory

According to the school, the are the smallest ''mahat'' (perceivable) particles and defined as s (triads). These are made of three parts, each of which are defined as (dyad). The s are conceived as made of two parts, each of which are defined as (atom). The s (atoms) are indivisible and eternal, they can neither be created nor destroyed. Each (atom) possesses its own distinct (individuality) and have an inhering relation which is responsible for change and motion. The measure of the partless atoms is known as ''parimaṇḍala parimāṇa''. It is eternal and it cannot generate the measure of any other substance. Its measure is its own absolutely.


See also

* Darshanas *
Hindu philosophy Hindu philosophy encompasses the philosophies, world views and teachings of Hinduism that emerged in Ancient India which include six systems ('' shad-darśana'') – Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mimamsa and Vedanta.Andrew Nicholson ( ...
*
Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
* Nyaya (philosophy) * Padārtha *
Tarka-Sangraha Tarka-Sangraha is a treatise in Sanskrit giving a foundational exposition of the ancient Indian system of logic and reasoning. The work is authored by Annambhatta and the author himself has given a detailed commentary, called Tarka-Sangraha Deepi ...
* Vaiśeṣika Sūtra *
Atomism Atomism (from Greek , ''atomon'', i.e. "uncuttable, indivisible") is a natural philosophy proposing that the physical universe is composed of fundamental indivisible components known as atoms. References to the concept of atomism and its atom ...


Notes


References

*. *. *.


Further reading

* Bimal Matilal (1977)
A History of Indian Literature - Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika
Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, , * Gopi Kaviraj (1961), Gleanings from the history and bibliography of the Nyaya-Vaisesika literature, Indian Studies: Past & Present, Volume 2, Number 4, * * *Kak, Subhash: Matter and Mind: The Vaiśeṣika Sūtra of Kaṇāda * * *


External links


Vaisheshika-sutra with three commentaries
English translation by Nandalal Sinha, 1923 (includes glossary)
A summary of Vaisheshika physics

Shastra Nethralaya - Vaisheshika


{{Indian Philosophy Ancient Indian philosophy Āstika Atomism Epistemology Hindu philosophy Logic Metaphysics