Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c5.6

c5.6

B.K. Matilal recognizes two distinct traditions of Indian logic — one is the tradition of *vāda* (debates, dialogues and discussions) and the other is the *pramāṇa* tradition. The former is concerned with dialectical tricks, arguments and sophistry, whereas the latter with criteria for empirical knowledge.² However, Matilal does not define the interconnections between these two traditions. In fact, the *vāda* tradition does not simply subside in sophistry and tricks, it very much effects and enriches the other tradition concerned with epistemology, providing a critique of diverse schools of philosophy. *Vāda* leads to true knowledge which would culminate in salvation (*mokṣa*).³ In fact *pramāṇa* is invariably linked to both *vāda* and *darśana*. There is a popular saying amongst Sanskrit *paṇḍits*—*vāde vāde jāyate tattvabodhaḥ* (after going through the series of *vādas*, true knowledge is acquired). In fact, it is this idea of *tattvabodha* — arriving at the very essence and ultimate truth — that distinguishes the Indian tradition of *vāda* from Western dialecticism. Greek philosophers like Aristotle have given the idea of dialectics primarily in the sense of “the art of discussion, debate, controversy, a method of argument or disputation, the process of discursive or conversational thinking”.⁴