Indian Philosophy v2.c24.s5.2

v2.c24.s5.2

Anumāna means literally the measuring after something. It is knowledge which follows other knowledge. From the knowledge of the sign (liṅga) we get a knowledge of the object possessing it. Anumāna is usually translated by the word "inference," which, however, is to be taken in a comprehensive sense, as including both deduction and induction. Anumāna is sometimes defined as knowledge which is preceded by perception. Vātsyāyana holds that "no inference can follow in the absence of perception." Only when the observer has perceived fire and smoke to be related to each other is he able to infer the existence of the fire on the next occasion he perceives smoke.⁴ Uddyotakara mentions some points of distinction between perceptual and inferential knowledge: (1) All perception is of one kind, if we exclude yogic intuition, while there are varieties of inference; (2) Perception is confined to objects of the present time and within the reach of the senses, while inference relates to the past, the present and the future; (3) Inference requires the remembrance of a vyāpti, or a universal relation, which is not the case with perception.¹ Where perception is available, inference has no place.² We need not reflect much to know objects present to our perception.³ Inference operates " neither with regard to things unknown, nor with regard to those known definitely for certain; it functions only with regard to things that are doubtful."⁴ It is employed to know that part of the real which does not fall within the directly perceived. What is perceived points to something else, not perceived, with which it is connected. Bhāsarvajña in his *Nyāyasāra* defines inference as the means of knowing a thing beyond the range of the senses through its " inseparable connection with another thing " which lies within their range. Gaṅgeśa,⁵ following Śivāditya,⁶ defines inferential knowledge as knowledge produced by other knowledge.