October 21, 2018 Sunday
Bedtime Story
Epistemology in Nyaya Sutras
What I find remarkable about this work is
that this book deals solely and purely with the rules of reason, logic,
epistemology and metaphysics with complete and total absence of Vedic religious
rituals.
It makes some emphatic epistemological
assertions such as these which still hold well today:
“All knowledge is not intrinsically valid”
“Most knowledge is not valid unless proven”
“Truth exists whether we human beings know
it or not”
And at the same time, it makes a
foundational statement that sets up axiomatic system in the study of nature in
any field which we saw in the case of mathematics lead to incorrect
understanding of nature:
“Some knowledge is self-evident”
The implication is that in any field of
knowledge you will have to start with some basic premise that not only cannot
be proven but even do not call for a proof the instances of which are:
“I am conscious”
“I think”
“Soul exists”
It is with reference to the soul that set
the path of Hinduism in fundamental conflict with Buddhism whose basic tenets
deny both existence of soul and the notion of ‘ultimate reality’.
And yet Nyaya Sutras did not consider God
or Ishvara as the creator who grants wishes and fruits but treated it as a
testable or at least a debatable hypothesis.
In fact, in the Book 4 Chapter 1 Gautama
treats it as a proposition and then poses an argument against it.
This pithy sutra or aphorism goes as
follows:
Proposition sutra: Ishvara is the cause,
since we see sometimes human actions lacks fruits
Prima facie objection sutra: This is not so
since, as a matter of fact, no fruit is accomplished without human action
Conclusion sutra: Not so, since it is
influenced by him
(Nyaya Sutra, 4. 1. 19. – 4. 1. 21)
Mark how similar this kind of syllogism is
that of Aristotle’s though Nyaya Sutras went far further than mere deductive
reasoning for which Aristotle was much reproached by Francis Bacon many centuries
later.
It is obvious the technology and scientific
knowledge must have been primitive in the era that the Sutras were written, but
the fundamental ideas about knowledge are astonishingly modern and powerful.
In the very first sutra 1. 1. 1. It states
that to gain competence in any area of interest one has to have a comprehensive
understanding of the following sixteen categories of knowledge (which was a
parallel statement of the scope of the Sutras):
Stay tuned to the voice of an average story storytelling
chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.com
Good night Mon Ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is Professor
Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic
engineer and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and
physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, I
recommend this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
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