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Nyāya's Logical Model
for Ascertaining Sound Arguments
Jaron Schorr
Tel Aviv University, Ramat-Aviv, Israel
jaron.schorr@gmail.com
Abstract.
The logical debate in India of the first millennia AD revolved around
the concept of
pramāna
. The term
pramāna
was taken to mean 'the criterion of
knowledge'. Current researchers of Indian philosophy are certain that Indian
logicians all agreed that
pramāna
is the sound operation of the mental processes
which produce mental knowledge episodes. Conversely, according to my re-
search, Nyāya thinkers believed the criteria of knowledge are the rules of the
use of things in everyday habitual behaviors. The issue which stood at the cen-
ter of the Indian logical debate, I wish to suggest, was the following: On the one
hand, there were thinkers who believed the rules of logic were prior to and
independent of habitual everyday human behaviors. On the other hand, there
were the Naiyāyikas who believed the rules of logic were derived from habitual
everyday human behaviors and the rules of usage they provided.
Keywords:
Syllogism, inference, criteria,
pramān
a
,
anumān
a
,
upamān
a
,
pratyaks
a.
1
Introduction
My purpose in what follows is to present several points that came to my attention
during the research I have conducted concerning one of Indian philosophy most im-
portant schools of thought - the Nyāya. Indian philosophical debate concerning logic
revolved around the concept of
pramān
a
. In colloquial usage,
pramān
a
means a mea-
suring device, a criterion or a standard. The meaning of
pramān
a
in the context of the
Indian philosophical debate resembled greatly to its everyday usage. It was taken to
mean 'criteria of knowledge'.
It follows from the above that the philosophical debate concerning logic in India
revolved around the question 'what the criteria of knowledge are?' Up until now, re-
searchers of Indian philosophy agreed that all Indian thinkers of the first millennia AD
presupposed knowledge to be mental episodes which mental processes produce and ac-
cordingly, that the criteria of different types of knowledge are the sound operation of the
