[INDOLOGY] some thoughts about modality, vyaapti and `eva'

[Alex Watson]

Dear Eli

Let's take as an example of modus tollens:

Major premise: wherever there is smoke there is fire
Minor premise: there is no fire on the mountain
Conclusion: there is no smoke on the mountain

I don't think Indian logicians would see this as a *prasaṅga*,
nor western philosophers as a case of *reductio ad absurdum*,
as it doesn't conclude something absurd or undesirable,
therefore we are not compelled to reject one of the premises.

Yours Alex

-- 
Alex Watson
Professor of Indian Philosophy
Ashoka University
*https://ashokauniversity.academia.edu/AlexWatson
<https://ashokauniversity.academia.edu/AlexWatson>*

> Dear friends,
I have been wondering about something that is perhaps only tangent to
the discussion. Can one distinguish between reductio ad absurdum
(prasanga) and modus tollens (also prasanga?) in the Indian tradition?
I am not sure that the distinction between the two is clear in the
Western tradition either.
With best wishes,
Eli
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