The Navya-Nyāya (
sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
: नव्य-न्याय) or Neo-Logical ''
darśana'' (view, system, or school) of
Indian logic and
Indian philosophy
Indian philosophy consists of philosophical traditions of the Indian subcontinent. The philosophies are often called darśana meaning, "to see" or "looking at." Ānvīkṣikī means “critical inquiry” or “investigation." Unlike darśan ...
was founded in the 13th century
CE by the philosopher
Gangeśa Upādhyāya of
Mithila
Mithila may refer to:
Places
* Mithilā, a synonym for the ancient Videha state
** Mithilā (ancient city), the ancient capital city of Videha
* Mithila (region), a cultural region (historical and contemporary), now divided between India and Nepa ...
and continued by
Raghunatha Śiromaṇi of
Nabadwipa in
Bengal
Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...
.
It was a development of the classical
Nyāya ''darśana''. Other influences on Navya-Nyāya were the work of earlier philosophers
Vācaspati Miśra (900–980 CE) and
Udayana (late 10th century). It remained active in India through to the 18th century.
Gangeśa's book ''
Tattvacintāmaṇi'' ("Thought-Jewel of Reality") was written partly in response to Śrīharśa's ''Khandanakhandakhādya'', a defence of
Advaita Vedānta, which had offered a set of thorough criticisms of Nyāya theories of thought and language. In his book, Gangeśa both addressed some of those criticisms and – more important – critically examined the Nyāya ''darśana'' itself. He held that, while Śrīharśa had failed to successfully challenge the Nyāya realist
ontology
Ontology is the philosophical study of existence, being. It is traditionally understood as the subdiscipline of metaphysics focused on the most general features of reality. As one of the most fundamental concepts, being encompasses all of realit ...
, his and Gangeśa's own criticisms brought out a need to improve and refine the logical and linguistic tools of Nyāya thought, to make them more rigorous and precise.
''Tattvacintāmani'' dealt with all the important aspects of Indian philosophy,
logic
Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the study of deductively valid inferences or logical truths. It examines how conclusions follow from premises based on the structure o ...
and especially
epistemology
Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowle ...
, which Gangeśa examined rigorously, developing and improving the Nyāya scheme, and offering examples. The results, especially his analysis of
cognition
Cognition is the "mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, thought, ...
, were taken up and used by other ''darśanas''.
Navya-Nyāya developed a sophisticated language and conceptual scheme that allowed it to raise, analyze, and solve problems in logic and epistemology. It involves naming each object to be analyzed, identifying a distinguishing characteristic for the named object, and verifying the appropriateness of the defining characteristic using ''pramanas''. It systematized all the Nyāya concepts into four main categories which are (sense-) perception (''pratyakşa''), inference (''anumāna''), comparison or similarity (''upamāna''), and testimony (sound or word; ''
śabda''). Great stalwarts like Basudev Sarvabhauma,
Raghunath Shiromani, Jagadish Tarkalankar, Gadadhar Bhattacharya and Mathuranatha Tarkavagisha have contributed further in the development of the subject. Prof
John Vattanky has contributed significantly to the modern understanding of Navya-Nyāya.
See also
*
Vaisheshika
*
Nyaya
*
John Vattanky
Sources and further reading
*
Bimal Krishna Matilal, ''The Navya-Nyaya Doctrine of Negation: The Semantics and Ontology of Negative Statements in Navya-Nyaya Philosophy'' (Harvard University Press, 1968)
*
J. N. Mohanty, ''Classical Indian Philosophy'' (Rowman & Littlefield, 2000)
*
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, ''et al.''
dd ''History of Philosophy Eastern and Western: Volume One'' (George Allen & Unwin, 1952)
*Vattanky, John, Nyāyapañcānana B. Viśvanātha, Nyāyapañcānana B. Viśvanātha, and Dinakarabhaṭṭa. ''Nyāya Philosophy of Language: Analysis, Text, Translation and Interpretation of Upamāna and Śabda Sections of Kārikāvalī, Muktāvalī and Dinakarī''. (Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications, 1995)
*Vattanky, John. ''A System of Indian Logic: The Nyana Theory of Inference''. (London : Routledge, 2015)
*Vattanky, John. ''Development of Nyāya theism''. (New Delhi: Intercultural Publications, 1993)
*BHATTACHARYYA, SIBAJIBAN. ''“GADĀDHARA BHAṬṬĀCĀRYA’S ‘VIṢAYATĀVĀDA.’”'' Journal of Indian Philosophy 14, no. 2 (1986): 109–93.
*BHATTACHARYYA, SIBAJIBAN. “GADĀDHARA BHAṬṬĀCĀRYA’S ‘VIṢAYATĀVĀDA’ (Continued).” Journal of Indian Philosophy 14, no. 3 (1986): 217–302.
*Bhattacharyya, Sibajiban. ''Some Features of Navya-Nyāya Logic.'' Philosophy East and West 24, no. 3 (1974): 329–42.
*Bhattacharyya, Sibajiban. ''Some Features of the Technical Language of Navya-Nyāya.'' Philosophy East and West 40, no. 2 (1990): 129–49.
References
Indian philosophy
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