Studies in Nyaya-Vaisesika Metaphysics (A Rare Book)

Studies in Nyaya-Vaisesika Metaphysics (A Rare Book)

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Book Specification

Item Code: NAC026
Author: sadananda Bhaduri
Publisher: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune
Language: English
Edition: 2021
ISBN: 9788194124368
Pages: 347
Cover: Paperback
Other Details 8.5 Inch X 5.5 Inch
Weight 320 gm

Book Description


From the Book

Sadananda Bhaduri, M.A., Ph.D., Professor and Head of the Department of Sanskrit and Pali, Presidency College, Calcutta, & Lecturer, Post-Graduate Department, University of Calcutta.

Preface

Though essentially a critique of knowledge, the Nyaya is also a comprehensive system of metaphysics. In the latter aspect, however, it has so completely taken over the conception of a realistic universe as elaborated in the Vaisesika, that the two schools of thought need hardly be differentiated except for a historical study of their lines of development. The present work is an attempt to give an expository and critical analysis of the solutions offered by Nyaya-Vaisesika realism for some of the fundamental problems of metaphysics.

The texts of Nyaya-Vaisesika bristle with linguistic technicalities which are not always free from obscurity. This has not infrequently hampered an adequate evaluation of the meta- physical speculations of the school. I have endeavoured in the following pages to make it possible for a modern reader to judge some of these speculations in their proper perspective and appraise them correctly. To appreciate or even to indicate the I contributions of the great writers of the school has often involved rethinking their ideas in modern terms. Every possible care has however been taken to avoid the risk of reading into these writers ideas which are foreign to them.

The scope of this work is limited mainly to the consideration of the problems relating to the physical order-its reality and substantiality, its constitution and character, its different members and the laws governing their behaviour, its relation to time and space. These problems raise a large number of important issues and cover a vast held in Nyaya-Vaisesika metaphysics. I have concluded with a chapter oh Causality, for all Nyaya-Vaisesika speculations, it will be seen, presuppose certain definite conclusions on this question.

No account of realism can be complete or valuable which does not take note of the destructive criticism of the idealists and sceptics. As is well known, the Buddhist philosophers of different schools and the Advaita-Vedantist dialecticians like Sriharsa and Citsukha have been the chief critics of the Nyaya-Vaisesika scheme of reality. I have undertaken, wherever necessary, a critical review of the arguments of these philosophers and tried to examine how far the Nyaya-Vaisesika point of view can be defended in its controversy with the opposing schools of thought.

I take this opportunity of expressing my warmest gratitude to my acarya. Late Mahamahopadhyaya Pandit Phanibhushan Tarkavagish, with whom I had the privilege of reading some of the important texts of the Nyaya-Vaisesika system. To my other teachers of Indian Philosophy, Mahamahopadhyaya Pandit Yogindra Nath Tarka-Vedantatirtha and Dr. Satkari Mookerjee, I am grateful for material help during the preparation of this work. I am also deeply indebted to Mahamahopadhyaya Pandit Gopinath Kaviraj, Late Principal, Government Sanskrit College, Benares, for many valuable suggestions and criticisms. I have the greatest pleasure in acknowledging my obligation `to Dr. B. C. Law, the great Indologist and patron of scholar- ship, but for whose generous help and active sympathy it would not have been possible to bring out this book in its present form. I am thankful to the authorities of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute for giving this volume a place in the Bhandarkar Oriental Series. My hearty thanks are also due to my pupil, Mr. Makhanlal .Mookerjee, M.A., of the Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandir, Belur, for his assistance in the correction of the proofs. Lastly, I must offer sincere thanks to Mr. P. C. Ray and Mr. K. K. Bhattacharya of the Sri Gouranga Press for the keen interest they have taken in piloting the book through the press.

Contents

Preface vii
Chapter I Introduction 1
1. The Categories or Types of Real’s 1
2. The Criteria of Reality 5
3. The Definition of Being 10
4. Existence and its Relation to the Categories 15
Chapter II Substance 22
1. Introduction 22
2. Objections to the Reality of Substance Analysed and Answered 23
3. The Definition of Substance 36
(a) Is Substance definable? 36
(b) Substance as a self-subsistent real 37
(c) Substance as an entity possessing motion 39
(d) Substance as the substratum of quality 41
(e) Substance as the inherent cause 45
4. Types of Substances 50
Chapter III Mater and its Constitution 52
1. The Primal Material Substances 52
2. The Atomic Theory 54
3. The Molecular Theory of Raghunatha Siromani 66
4. Concluding Remarks 69
Chapter IV The Formation of Gross Bodies 71
1. The Intermediary Stages: Dyads and Triads 71
2. The Theories of Intransitive and Transitive Causation 82
Chapter V Qualitative Changes in Earthy Bodies 89
1. The Problem and its Relevancy 89
2. The Doctrines of Pilupaka and Pitharapaka 90
3. Vaisesika Speculations on the Time Required for Qualitative Change 102
4. The Action of Heat on Earthy Atoms 108
Chapter VI The Properties of Matter 110
1. The Qualities of Matter as Finite Substance 110
2. The Qualities of Matter as Substance 111
3. Some Physical Qualities of Mater 125
4. The Specific Qualities 127
5. Matter and Motion 134
(a) The characteristics of motion 134
(b) Types of motion 136
(c) Motion in relation to its causes 138
(d) Motion as an objet of perception 140
Chapter VII The Forms of Matter 142
1. Atomic Matter 142
(a) The characteristics of atoms 142
(b) Atoms as unique particulars the category of particularity 143
(c) The motion of atoms 146
2. Types of Material Composites 147
(a) Organisms 147
(b) Senses 152
(c) Some views regarding the tactile sense examined 157
(d) Objects 161
Chapter VIII Akasa 163
1. Some Views Examined 163
2. Akasa and Sound 165
3. The Attributes of Akasa 172
4. The Nature of Sound 175
Chapter IX Time 183
1. The Proof of Time: The Nyaya-Vaisesika View 183
2. Is Perception of Time Possible? 193
3. The Reality of Time and its Determinations 197
4. The Atomic View of Time 203
5. The Nature and Status of the Present 206
Chapter X Space 214
1. The Nature and Prof of Space 214
2. Some Characteristics of Priority and Posteriority 221
3. Some Attributes of Space 225
Chapter XI Whole and Part 229
1. The Whole as Distinct from its Parts the Psychological Defence 229
2. The Whole as Distinct from its Parts: the Ontological Defence 241
3. Objections of the Buddhist Nihilist Examined 248
4. The Position of the Buddhist Realist Examined 251
5. Antinomies Examined 260
Chapter XII Causality 271
1. Causality as a Universal and Necessary Principle 271
2. The Definition of Cause 281
3. The Determinants of Causal Relation 287
4. Classification of Causes 293
5. The Problem of Plurality of Causes 299
6. The Relation of the Effect to the Cause 306
7. The Reality of the Cause 313
General Index 321
Sanskrit Index 328

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