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Absolute Negativism and Absolute Particularism
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judgment in other cases alike. If names can be perceived and judged without the help of further names, there is no reason why things cannot be judged without the help of names in the first cognition.
The whole difficulty springs from the Buddhist's assumption that only particulars are real and universals are ideal constructs. But the difficulty disappears if a real is taken to be universalcum-particular. The test of causal efficiency is applicable to both the universal and the particular. The universal has a distinctive nature of its own as much as the particular has. The universal has its own causal efficiency. The universal gives rise to a concept and a common name, which apply to several members of a class. The particular has its particularistic effects in the shape of particular cognitions. The function of one is not discharged by the other. So they are both real. But in spite of their distinctive functions they are not absolutely different entities. They are also identical, as they are inseparable. If the particular were absolutely different from the universal, there would be no relation between them. The fact that they are related shows the two to be identical and different both -- a truth which has been proved by our discussion of the nature of relations. If the identity of the universal and the particular were not admitted, the recollection of the pre-perceived universal on the perception of the particular would not be possible. Furthermore, how could the intuition of the particular, which is held to be inexpressible, generate a recollection of the universal, which is expressible ? Certainly the perception of a cow does not necessarily occasion the recollection of the hill. It must, therefore, be admitted that they are related and relation presupposes the identity in difference of the relata. The Buddhist avers that the perceptual judgment that arises in the trail of perception comprehends the particular and the universal as identical and so the perception of the particular occasions the recollection of the universal. This is a significant statement of the Buddhist and an analysis of its implication will yield important results. If the Buddhist theory be accepted,
1. višeşasāmānyayor ekatvadhyavasāyād višeşasyā 'nubhave sāmānye smrtir yuktā. As., p. 122.
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