________________
ON REASONING FROM ANVAYA AND VYATIREKA
IN EARLY ADVAITA
George Cardona
Indian thinkers have used a mode of reasoning that involves the related presence (anvaya 'continued presence') and absence (vyatireka) of entities as follows: (1) a. When X occurs, Y occurs.
b. When X is absent, Y is absent. (2) a. When X occurs, Y is absent.
b. When X is absent, Y occurs..
If (la, b) hold in all instances for X and Y, so that these are shown consistently to occur together, one is entitled to say that a particular relation obtains between the two. Either (la) or (1b) alone will not justify this, and a claim made on the basis of either can be falsified by showing that (2a) or (2b) holds. One relation that can be established by (1) is that X is a cause of Y.1 A special instance of the cause-effect relation involves the use of given speech units and the understanding by a hearer of given meanings. If (1a,b) hold, the speech unit in question is considered the cause of ones comprehending a meaning, which is attributed to that speech element.2 For example, consider (3) a. 34194 'Bring the cow'.
b. 14 aaia "Tether the cow'. (4) a. 3724122 'Bring the horse'.
b. 34*2# agla "Tether the horse'. Each of the sentences within each pair has a constant element : gām in (3), uśvam in (4). The second sentence of each pair differs from the first in having badhāna instead of
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
