The tetralemma is a figure that features prominently in the
logic of India.
Definition
It states that with reference to any a logical proposition X, there are four possibilities:
:
(affirmation)
:
(negation)
:
(both)
:
(neither)
Catuskoti
The history of fourfold negation, the
Catuskoti (Sanskrit), is evident in the logico-epistemological tradition of India, given the categorical nomenclature Indian logic in Western discourse. Subsumed within the auspice of Indian logic, '
Buddhist logic' has been particularly focused in its employment of the fourfold negation, as evidenced by the traditions of
Nagarjuna
Nāgārjuna . 150 – c. 250 CE (disputed)was an Indian Mahāyāna Buddhist thinker, scholar-saint and philosopher. He is widely considered one of the most important Buddhist philosophers.Garfield, Jay L. (1995), ''The Fundamental Wisdom of ...
and the
Madhyamaka
Mādhyamaka ("middle way" or "centrism"; ; Tibetan: དབུ་མ་པ ; ''dbu ma pa''), otherwise known as Śūnyavāda ("the emptiness doctrine") and Niḥsvabhāvavāda ("the no ''svabhāva'' doctrine"), refers to a tradition of Buddhis ...
, particularly the school of Madhyamaka given the retroactive nomenclature of
Prasangika by the Tibetan Buddhist logico-epistemological tradition. Though tetralemma was also used as a form inquiry rather than logic in the nasadiya sukta of rigveda (creation hymm) though seems to be rarely used as a tool of logic before buddhism
A variant of the tetralemma is used in the
Ancient Greek philosophical schools of
Democritus
Democritus (; el, Δημόκριτος, ''Dēmókritos'', meaning "chosen of the people"; – ) was an Ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from Abdera, primarily remembered today for his formulation of an atomic theory of the universe. No ...
and
Pyrrhonism
Pyrrhonism is a school of philosophical skepticism founded by Pyrrho in the fourth century BCE. It is best known through the surviving works of Sextus Empiricus, writing in the late second century or early third century CE.
History
Pyrrho of ...
.
Pyrrho
Pyrrho of Elis (; grc, Πύρρων ὁ Ἠλεῖος, Pyrrhо̄n ho Ēleios; ), born in Elis, Greece, was a Greek philosopher of Classical antiquity, credited as being the first Greek skeptic philosopher and founder of Pyrrhonism.
Life
...
includes it in his summary of his teachings, and
Sextus Empiricus
Sextus Empiricus ( grc-gre, Σέξτος Ἐμπειρικός, ; ) was a Greek Pyrrhonist philosopher and Empiric school physician. His philosophical works are the most complete surviving account of ancient Greek and Roman Pyrrhonism, and ...
includes it among the Pyrrhonist Maxims.
[Sextus Empiricus, ''Outlines of Pyrrhonism'' Book 1, Section 19]
See also
*
De Morgan's laws
In propositional logic and Boolean algebra, De Morgan's laws, also known as De Morgan's theorem, are a pair of transformation rules that are both valid rules of inference. They are named after Augustus De Morgan, a 19th-century British math ...
*
Paraconsistent logic
A paraconsistent logic is an attempt at a logical system to deal with contradictions in a discriminating way. Alternatively, paraconsistent logic is the subfield of logic that is concerned with studying and developing "inconsistency-tolerant" syst ...
*
Prasangika
*
Two-truths doctrine
*
Catuṣkoṭi
''Catuṣkoṭi'' (Sanskrit; Devanagari: चतुष्कोटि, , Sinhalese:චතුස්කෝටිකය) is a logical argument(s) of a 'suite of four discrete functions' or 'an indivisible quaternity' that has multiple applications an ...
, a similar concept in Indian philosophy
*
Similarities between Pyrrhonism and Buddhism
According to Edward Conze, Greek Skepticism (particularly that of Pyrrho) can be compared to Buddhist philosophy, especially the Indian Madhyamika school.Conze, EdwardBuddhist Philosophy and Its European Parallels Philosophy East and West 13, p.9 ...
References
External links
*
Wiktionary definition of tetralemma
Twelve links blog ''Notes on the tetralemma''
{{skepticism
History of logic
Logic
Lemmas
Pyrrhonism