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CHAPTER XII THE GROUNDS OF INFERENCE
1.
The logical ground of vyāptı or universal relation
In inference our knowledge of the sādhya or major term as related to the paksa or minor term depends on the knowledge of ryāptı between the middle and major terms. It is on the ground of vyāptı or a universal relation that the middle term leads to the knowledge of the inferred object (vyāptıbalenārthagamakain lingam). Every inference is thus logically dependent on the knowledge of vyāpti. Hence the questions that we have to consider here are : (i) What is vyāptı? and (12) bow is it known?
With regard to the first question we have to say that vyāpti literally means the state of pervasion or permeation. It thus implies a correlation between two facts, of which one is pervaded (vyāpya) and the other pervades (vyāpaka). A fact is said to pervade another when it always accompanies the other. Contrarı wise, a fact is said to be pervaded by another when it is always accompanied by the other. It follows from this that the vyāpaka or the pervader is present in all the places in which the vyāpya or the pervaded is present. In this sense smoke is pervaded by fire, since all smoky objects are also fiery. But while all smoky objects are fiery, all fiery objects are not smoky, e.g. the red-hot iron ball. Similarly, all men are mortal, but all mortals are not men, c.g. bırds and beasts. A vyāpti between terms of unequal extension, such as smoke and fire, men and mortals, is called asamavyāptı or visamavuāpti. It is a relation of non-equipollent concomitance
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| SR No. | 011115 |
| Book Title | Nyaya Theory of Knowledge |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | S C Chateerjee |
| Publisher | University of Calcutta |
| Publication Year | 1939 |
| Total Pages | 440 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 38 MB |