Nyaya And Jaina Epistemology

Author(s): Kokila H Shah
Publisher: Sharadaben Chimanbhai Educational Research Centre

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NYÄYA AND JAINA EPISTEMOLOGY
relation with the minor term. 5. Conclusion is the predication of the probandum.
The five-membered syllogism is accepted in Jainism since it is useful to the layman who is not expert in logic.
Thus, in Jainism the constituent parts of syllogism for others are either two, five or ten. These three forms of an inference for others can be used according as the persons are super-intelligent, intelligent or dull respectively. Regarding the ten-membered syllogism Dasgupta comments “These are persuasive statements which are often actually adopted in a discussion but from a formal point of view many of these are irrelevant. "26
It is clear that Jaina view of inference in general is similar more or less to that of Nyāya.
Nyāya View of Testimony-sabda The Import of a Sentence and Meaning Problem
Testimony : Sabda or testimony is the fourth pramāņa admitted by the Nyāya. The literal meaning of the term Śabda is verbal knowledge. “It is the knowledge of objects derived from words or sentences”. 27 But all verbal knowledge is not valid. Hence Śabda as a pramāna is defined in the Nyāya as “the assertion of a trustworthy person". 28 It consists in understanding its meaning. A sentence is defined as a collection of words and a word is defined as that which is potent to convey its meaning. According to old Nyāya, the power in a word t' convey its meaning comes from God and according to later vyāya from long established convention. Testimony is always personal as it is based on the words of a trustworthy person, human or divine. Valid verbal