Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s10.t9.5

v1.c7.s10.t9.5

The main theories put forward in *Nyaya Sutra* include reasoning by five-part syllogism, reasons of producing mistake in reasoning, behaviour of debate failure, main methods to get correct understanding and so on. Reasoning by five-part syllogism is also called “five-branches-type argument”. It is a relatively fixed basic mode of reasoning first put forward in the history of Indian thought, and plays an important role in the formation and development of systematic logic theory in India. The theory holds that there are five basic elements during the reasoning, namely, the proposition, the reason, the example, the application and the conclusion. “The proposition” is the proposition put forward in the reasoning,” the reason” is the reason to demonstrate proposition, “the example” is the specific example or evidence used to demonstrate proposition, “the application” is the application of reason and example into the reasoning, and “the conclusion” is the conclusion drawn according to the final statement of one’s own proposition. Behaviour of debate failure is an important analysis of *Nyaya Sutra* on debate, and the theory on such aspect is mainly manifested in the conclusion of 22 misunderstandings. The main way to get the correct understanding actually is the pramana theory. There are four pramana being put forward in Nyaya Sutra, namely, Partyaksa-pramana, Anumana-pramana, upama-pramana and avavada-pramana.