Book Title: Nyaya Theory of Knowledge
Author(s): S C Chateerjee
Publisher: University of Calcutta

View full book text
Previous | Next

Page 336
________________ THE FALLACIES OF INFERENCE 319 fire is not cold but hot. The fallacy of satpratıpakşa, as explained before, is different from this fallacy of bādhita because in the former one inference is contradicted by another inference, while in the latter an inference is contradicted by a non-inferential source of knowledge. 7. The fallacies of chala, jāti and nigrahasthāna Apart from the fallacies of inference, the Naiyāyıkas deal with certain other fallacies which occur in connection with the art of debate. These are called chala, jāti and nigrahasthāna. The fallacy of chalu consists in using the same word to mean different objects in the course of a debate. It thus corresponds to the fallacy of ambiguity in Western logic. It is of three kinds, namely, vākchala, sāmānyachala and upacāruchala. In vākchala or the fallacy of cquivocation the same word is used in different senses. This is illustrated when one man says 'the boy is navakambala' (possessed of a new blanket), and another objects he is not nava-kambala (possessed of nine blankets). In sāmānyachala the same word is taken to mean an individual and the class to which it belongs, e.g. one man says this Brahmin is a learned man,' and another objects all Brahmins are not learned men' In upacārachala or the fallacy of figure of speech, a confusion is made between the figurative and literal senses of an expression, e.g. when one says' the scaffolds cry out,' and another objects 'scaffolds cannot cry.'? Jāti is the fallacy of irrelevance. In it a futile argument is based on some irrelevant consideration which does not really prove the conclusion. There are twenty-four kinds of jāti or futile arguments. The first is called sādharmyasama, 1 Vide TB., p. 37, TS., pp. 58-60. 2 Vide NS. & NB., 1 2.10-14,

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440