________________
THE PROBLEM OF NEGATION
131
negation is an impossibility. This dialectical approach to negation has its basis on the principle of contradiction.
Negative Epistemology Nyaya concept of Negation
A realistic epistemology has to postulate reality of negation. Nyāya logicians posit a negative entity as the object of negative judgement. They are pluralistic realists. Reality, according to them is either positive or negative, existence or non-existence. Affirmation has for its object a positive entity, negation a negative entity. Even a negative proposition asserts a perceptual datum which refers to the factual situation, viz. 'absence of something'. Negation is regarded as one of the categories by Nyāya philosophers though early Nyaya does not explicitly mention it, it is nevertheless suggested. Pluralistic realism entails negation. Unless ontological character of negation is accepted the delimitation of the positive categories will not be possible. In this connection it is pointed out that negation becomes indispensable for realism as a delimiting factor.
Nyaya logicians refute the view that negative statements are subjective as according to them they refer to objective content which is significant. They refuse to admit that positive statements are the only type of statements to describe world of experience. Actually, Nyāya philosophers are not inclined to believe that there should be any affirmative-negative water-tight compartments among propositions. Every cognition asserts something which is the content of assertion. "The components of such a content are divided broadly by Nyaya into the qualifier and the qualified and, which are related by a qualification relation. Nyāya
