Indian Philosophy v2.c24.s17: I The Vaiśeṣika
Indian Philosophy v2.c24.s17
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I The Vaiśeṣika
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THE Vaiśeṣika system takes its name from viśeṣa, or particularity. It insists that it is in the particulars of the world, pre-eminently in the particular imperceptible souls and atoms that true individuality is to be found. Though the particular selves have cosmic and social relations, through which alone they can realise themselves, yet they retain their selfhood in spite of all these relations. The Vaiśeṣika is essentially a philosophy of distinctions, since it does not tolerate any attempt at dissipating the independence of selves and objects in a supposed more perfect individuality. Its standpoint is more scientific than speculative, more analytic than synthetic, though it is not able to set aside questions about the general character of the universe as a whole. Science sorts out, while philosophy sums up. The Vaiśeṣika is not interested in constructing an all-embracing synthesis within whose bounds there is room for all that is, bringing all the variety of the worlds of sense and of thought under a single comprehensive formula. In the spirit of science, it endeavours to formulate the most general characters of the things observed. It tickets different aspects of experience and assigns each to an appropriate priate pigeon-hole. The resulting philosophy comes to be of piecemeal character, and not an adequate and comprehensive one.
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The impulse of the Vaiśeṣika system is derived from its hostility to Buddhistic phenomenalism. While the Vaiśeṣika accepts the Buddhist view of the sources of knowledge, perception and inference, it argues that souls and substances are solid facts, and cannot be dismissed as fancy pictures of a faery tale, supposed to be enacted behind the scenes. It does not concern itself with the problems of theology, and Śaṃkara’s criticism even suggests that the dominant tendency of the system was in the direction of atheism.¹ The Vaiśeṣika in its early form, at any rate, was thought out in an age of excessive mental suppleness, when thought was full of the germs of scepticism.
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¹ Śaṃkara regards the followers of the Vaiśeṣika as ardhavaināśikas or semi-nihilists (S.B., ii. 2. 18).
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Though mainly a system of physics and metaphysics, logical discussions are skilfully dovetailed into it in the later works. The Vaiśeṣika and the Nyāya agree in their essential principles, such as the nature and qualities of the self and the atomic theory of the universe, yet the classification and characterisation of the categories and the development of the atomic theory give to the Vaiśeṣika its distinctive interest and value.
Cites (1)
- Brahmasūtra Śāṅkarabhāṣya (Śaṅkara) — Śaṅkara, Sanskrit