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CHAPTER IV
The Systems of Philosophy in which Identity is subordinated to Difference
Having observed, in the course of the previous chapter, how 'difference' is subordinated to identity' in the several systems including Hegelianism, we may now briefly turn to two noteworthy examples in Indian thought, in which the converse thesis is upheld, viz., subordination of identity to difference. The two examples to be now considered in so far as they have a bearing on the problem of 'identity-indifference', are (a) the Vaiseșika system and (b) the Mädhya system of Dvaitism.
A. The Vaiseșika System
This system is an atomistic pluralism. It adopts a sixfold classification of categories or padārthas, viz., substance (dravya), quality (guņa), activity (karma), generality (sāmānya), difference or particularity (višesa) and intimate relation
1. 'Intimate or necessary relation' is a better translation of
samavāya than 'internal relation'. This is so because the term 'internal' indicates that the inner character of the relata will, as will be noticed below, in ch. VII, be affected and, consequently, the relata will tend to become an identity which abolishes otherness or distinction which is the very essence
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