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give non-existence. It always consists in the apprehension of a positive fact and non-existence is not a positive fact. Non-existence is moreover & judgment,-of the form, “This is nonexistent” or “there is non-existence of that in it'-and a judgment cannot be the subject-matter of perception. If it be said that non-existence may be perceived as well as a positive fact, the Vedantists point out that it is impossible. A positive fact is one, but facts negating it are infinite in number so that if those negative facts be held to enter into the region of perception, they would fill it completely, leaving no room for the positive fact to be perceived at all. Recollection also cannot give us any impression about non-existence; for the scope and function of recollection is simply to identify an object of present perception with the object of some previous perception or idea, similar to the former; non-existence is not similar to an objeot of perception and so, it is beyond the grasp of recollection. Lastly, it is pointed out by the Vedantists that non-existence being a perfect void, devoid of any determinate character and characteristics, -in other words, being pure “nothing”,-no inference about it is possible; for inference deals with positive facts with determinate characters only.
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