Indian Philosophy v2.c24.s5.84

v2.c24.s5.84

Nature does not always supply us with positive and negative instances of the right kind to help us to establish or reject theories. The Naiyāyika says that we may employ the method of tarka or indirect proof to obtain the negative evidence. If the general proposition, where there is smoke there is fire, is not valid, then its contradictory that " sometimes smoke is not accompanied by fire " must be true. In other words, fire is not the invariable antecedent of smoke. But we cannot deny that fire is the cause of smoke. Thus tarka is employed to strengthen a universal proposition based on positive instances of uninterrupted agreement. It is also a way of establishing a hypothesis.¹ By pointing out the absurdities in which we are landed, if we deny a suggested hypothesis, indirect proof tends to confirm the hypothesis. It shows that no other hypothesis is able to account for the facts.²