[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Science, technology and education](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science) › [A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D.](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902) › v2.c35.21 # A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v2.c35.21 A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v2.c35.21 - **Language:** English ### [v2.c35.21](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v2.c35.21) The Chárvákas hold that the principle of causality, which the Buddhists assume to be a ground of an induction (व्याप्ति) is itself an induction (a case of Vyápti), which amounts to reasoning in a circle (चक्रक); that every inference is based on an unconditional invariable concomitance which itself must be inferred, as universal propositions cannot be established by our limited perceptions, and thus there is a regressus ad infinitum (अनादि परम्परा); and that the nexus between cause and effect, or between the sign and the thing signified (\*e.g.\*, smoke and fire) is only a mental step or subjective association based on former perception, a mental step which by accident is found justified by the result in a number of cases. - [Previous: v2.c35.20](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v2.c35.20) - [Next: v2.c35.22](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v2.c35.22) - [Up: v2.c35](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v2.c35) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v2.c35.21](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.ray-1902.v2.c35.21) · Pramāṇa