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INFERENCE
695
TEXT (1401).
BUT SOMETIMES, EVEN THOUGH COLOUR AND OTHER THINGS ARE THERE, VISUAL PERCEPTION DOES NOT TAKE PLACE; HENCE IT IS UNDERSTOOD THAT THAT (PERCEPTION) ALONE CANNOT BE A REASON (FOR THE EXISTENCE OF THE
EYE).- (1401)
COMMENTARY.
Sometimes, when, for instance, the Eyes are closed.
We never seek to prove the existence of the Eyedirectly as this is the Eye'; what happens (according to us) is that it is found that the Perception appears only when certain things, in the form of Colour, etc. are there,
and it is so found that it is present when these things are there, and it is absent when they are absent and what we seek to prove is that the Perception could not have those things alone as its cause,-that it must have some other cause; so that the Subject (of our Inference) is the said Perception, which cannot be said to be unknown'.-What this other cause is comes to be spoken of as the Eye
The basis of our conclusion is the practical notion of diversity.- (1401)
The following might be urged: "It may be that, in the manner shown, the Perception may be the Subject; even so, the Probans remains only twofeatured ".
The answer to this is as follows:
TEXT (1402).
THE SPROUT IS ACTUALLY FOUND TO EXIST AS HAVING ITS BIRTH IN. SEPARABLY CONNECTED WITH ITS CAUSE ; AND THIS IS ALWAYS AVAILABLE AS THE CORROBORATIVE INSTANOD; THE INSTANCE PER DISSIMILARITY IS TOO CLEAR
(TO BE STATED).(1402)
COMMENTARY Inseparably connected with its Cause invariably concomitant with its Cause-is the birth-appearance, coming into existence of the Sprout. Things like the Sprout, having their birth dependent upon their Cause and hence coming into existence only occasionally, are possible as the Corroborative Instance (in the proving of the Visual Perception as being due to the Eye): the argument being formulated thus:-Those things that appear on the presence of something else, only occasionally, cannot be regarded as produced from that alone, they must be regarded as dependent upon other causes, for instance, even when the soil and other things are there, the Sprout is found to appear or not to appear according as the seed is there or not there ;
