Monday 8 March 2010

Pratyaksa of the universal in Purva Mimamsa

Indian thinking seems to be Platonic also in this respect, that no clear distinction is drawn between mode of thinking (grasping something as universal, for instance) and mode of being. Thus De Smet says:
The universal (jati) is a different kind of whole than the dravyas.... The question of its perception and its nature arises as a knot of difficulties in India because, (like in Platonism), no neat distinction is generally made between mode of thinking and mode of being and, hence, the universal being valid in thought is also judged to be an ontological reality (vastu). (De Smet, Guidelines, p. 218)
Still, Prabhakara at least does not hold that jati has separate existence apart from the individuals, as Nyaya supposes.

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