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NEGATION SOME INDIAN THEORIES
J. L. Shaw
The aim of this paper is to discuss the different types of negation mentioned in the Mimāmsā and the Nyaya system of philosophy in the light of some contemporary discussions on negation.
In the first section we shall note that contemporary philosophers confine their attention to propositional negation rather than to term-negation. In this context the views of Prior and Strawson will be discussed.
In the second section we shall discuss the view of Mimāmsa philosophers. These philosophers have drawn a distinction between a prohibition type of negation and an exclusion type of negation in the context of a negation of a positive injunction.
The third section will deal with the view of the Nyaya philosophers. In this context we shall discuss whether the Nyaya concept of negation is a term-negation or a proposition-negation or a propositional function-negation. According to our positive thesis the Nyaya concept of negation cannot be captured by any of these concepts.
SP-8
I
Arthur Prior1 in his article on "Negation" has nicely summed up the views of contemporary logicians on negation. He says,
"By the use of open sentences all the varieties of negation are reduced to the placing of 'not' or 'it is not the case that' before some proposition or propositionlike expression, the whole being either contained or not contained within
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