A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v2.c35.73

v2.c35.73

It will be seen that the process of disproving all suspected Upádhis (उपाधिषङ्कानिरास), in the early Nyáya, answers exactly as a process to Mill's Method of Agreement. In fact, the disproof of a suspected Upádhi by pointing to instances of Agreement in presence (अन्वय) even in the absence of the Upádhi, fortified as this is by the instances of agreement in absence (व्यतिरेक), virtually amounts to Mill's Joint Method of Agreement. But the fundamental difference is this :—Mill's Method of Agreement is formulated in view of the phenomena of causation (including co-effects, etc.) and, as usually enunciated, confessedly breaks down in dealing with cases of Uniformities of Co-existence unconnected with Causation; the Nyáya Method based on the disproof of suspected Upádhis is a more daring and original attempt, and is far more comprehensive in scope, being applicable to all Uniformities of Co-existence and of Causation alike. And this the Nyáya successfully accomplished, by introducing the mark of unconditionality (उपाधिविधुरता) into the relation of Vyápti (Concomitance), even as the same mark of unconditionality (अन्यथासिद्धिशन्यता) had been previously introduced into the definition of Causality (कार्यकारणभाव). The difference between the early Nyáya and the Buddhist systems may be briefly put thus :—The former relied on empirical induction based on uniform and uninterrupted agreement in Nature, and accordingly regarded the Method of Agreement as the fundamental Method of Scientific Induction, founding Inference on Vyápti to which they subordinated Causality in the doctrine of Method ; the latter assumed two *a priori* principles, *viz.*, causality and identity of essence, deduced the canon of the Method of Difference by an indirect proof from the principle of causality, and made this Method the foundation of all scientific Induction of Causality, just as they based all natural classification of Genera and Species on their *a priori* principle of Identity of Essence.