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CHAPTER III
VALID KNOWLEDGE AND ITS METHOD (PRAMA AND PRAMAŅA)
1 Definition of pramă or valid knowledge
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In Chapter II we have considered the different forms of non-valid knowledge (aprama) Here we are to consider the nature of valid knowledge (prama) and the general character of the method of valid knowledge (pramāņa) It may appear to some that the distinction between valid and non-valid or invalid knowledge is not only unnecessary but incorrect. Knowledge, in its strict sense, means a true belief that carries with it an assurance of its truth.1 Hence knowledge is always true. It is a tautology to speak of valid knowledge' and a contradiction to speak of nonvalid or invalid knowledge.' The latter is no knowledge at all, since it does not stand for any belief which is true and which gives us an assurance of its truth. When we speak of pramā as valid knowledge, we do not forget the strict sense of the word 'knowledge.' But the word 'knowledge' has been used in a narrow as well as a wide sense. Hence in view of the facts that the Nyaya-Vaiseṣikas use jñānam in a very wide sense, that they make a distinction between true and false jñānam, and that pramā implies something more than knowledge in its strict sense, we propose to use the phrase ' valid knowledge' for pramā. As however we have already said, the word may be taken to mean prama according to the context.
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knowledge
1 Cf. Russell, Problems of Philosophy, p. 217.
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