Indian Philosophy v2.c25.s2.40

v2.c25.s2.40

According to Śabara, when a certain fixed relation has been known to subsist between two things, so that if we perceive any one of these things we have an idea of the other thing, this latter cognition is called inferential.² Śabara divides inference into two kinds: pratyakṣatoḍṛṣṭa, where the invariable relation holds between objects which are perceptible, as smoke and fire, and sāmānyatoḍṛṣṭa, where the relation is not apprehended by the senses, but known only in the abstract, as in the case of the sun’s motion and its changing position in the sky.³ According to Prabhākara, the relation must be unfailing, true and permanent, such as that which subsists between the cause and its effect, whole and part, substance and quality, class and individuals. The general principle is not derived from perception, since the latter operates only with regard to things in the present and in contact with sense-organs. It is not due to inference or implication, since these assume it. The general principle is established on the basis of experience. We observe cases where fire and smoke are present together as well as cases where they are not so present, and then infer a general principle which covers all the cases. When a permanent relation of coexistence, identity or causal nexus is fixed up in the mind, one term of it reminds us of the other.