[INDOLOGY] nyaya and regress

[Madhav Deshpande]

I agree with you. There is no level beyond the Buddha for A Buddhist.

Madhav


On Sat, Jun 8, 2024 at 12:08 PM Matthew Kapstein <mattkapstein at proton.me>
wrote:

> Dear Madhav,
>
> I don’t think that Śāntideva supports a true anavasthā argument. One might
> say that, for him, the buck stops with Buddha….
>
> best,
> Matthew
>
> Sent from Proton Mail <https://proton.me/mail/home> for iOS
>
>
> On Sat, Jun 8, 2024 at 20:56, Madhav Deshpande via INDOLOGY <
> indology at list.indology.info
> <On+Sat,+Jun+8,+2024+at+20:56,+Madhav+Deshpande+via+INDOLOGY+%3C%3Ca+href=>>
> wrote:
>
> Dear Howard,
>
> Glad to remind you of your teacher, Professor Scharfe. As his book is in
> German, it has not drawn as much attention in the Anglophone world.
> Itaretarāśraya is like a chicken and egg argument. Apratiṣṭhāna, as
> brought up in the Brahmasūtra [tarkāpratiṣṭhānād anyathānumeyam iti ced
> evam api avimokṣaprasaṅgaḥ] says that all Tarka is apratiṣṭhita, and hence
> even if we bring up a superior Tarka, that superior Tarka can be shown to
> be faulty by an even more superior Tarka. Thus, there is a resulting
> Avimokṣa "no final solution." In an interesting way, this argument reminds
> me of a line from Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra "bādhyante dhīviśeṣeṇa
> yogino 'py uttarottaraiḥ" [this attribution is from my aging memory]. Here
> the argument is that any Yogic experience can be superseded by a higher
> level Yogic experience. This is also a sort of Anavasthā.
> Many systems have placed arbitrary limits to avoid Anavasthā. For example,
> according to the Nyāya-Vaiśrṣikas, there is a relationship of Saṃyoga
> between the monkey and the branch upon which the monkey is sitting. Now the
> Saṃyoga as a Guṇa relates to the monkey with the relation of Samavāya, and
> the same Saṃyoga relates to the branch with another Samavāya. Fine, but
> then what relation would connect the Samavāya to Saṃyoga? Does this need
> another Samavāya? So there is an interesting regresso ad infinitum
> situation. But the Nyāya-Vaiśeṣikas say that no further relation is needed
> to connect a Samavāya to Saṃyoga. But this is quite arbitrary.
>
> Thanks for bringing up this topic. Best wishes,
>
> Madhav
>
> Madhav M. Deshpande
> Professor Emeritus, Sanskrit and Linguistics
> University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USAg
> Senior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu Studies
> Adjunct Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India
>
> [Residence: Campbell, California, USA]
>
>
> On Sat, Jun 8, 2024 at 9:03 AM Howard Resnick <hr at ivs.edu> wrote:
>
>> Thank you Madhav for this information, and thank you for bringing to mind
>> my first and much appreciated Sanskrit professor, Hartmut Scharfe, whom I
>> studied with as an undergraduate at UCLA.
>>
>> Regarding itaretarāśṛaya, often taken to mean ‘mutual dependence’, can
>> this be seen as an indirect or oblique indication of infinite regress, by
>> way of an apratiṣṭhāna, foundationless, situation?
>>
>> Thanks and best wishes!
>> Howard
>>
>> On Jun 8, 2024, at 11:07 AM, Madhav Deshpande <mmdesh at umich.edu> wrote:
>>
>> Another source for discussions of topics like Anavasthā and
>> Itaretarāśraya may be Hartmut Scharfe's book: "Die Logik im Mahābhaāṣya,"
>> Berlin 1961.
>>
>> Madhav M. Deshpande
>> Professor Emeritus, Sanskrit and Linguistics
>> University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
>> Senior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu Studies
>> Adjunct Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore,
>> India
>>
>> [Residence: Campbell, California, USA]
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Jun 8, 2024 at 6:47 AM Howard Resnick via INDOLOGY <
>> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>>
>>> Thank you Philipp. Very helpful.
>>>
>>> All the best,
>>> Howard
>>>
>>> On Jun 8, 2024, at 3:00 AM, Philipp Maas via INDOLOGY <
>>> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>>>
>>> Dear Howard,
>>> On *anavasthā *and related terms in various systems of thought, see
>>> also Oberhammer, G. (1991). *Terminologie der frühen indischen
>>> Scholastik in Indien*. Vol. 1. A-I. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen
>>> Akademie der Wissenschaften, p. 32f.
>>>
>>> Best wishes,
>>>
>>> Philipp
>>> __________________________
>>>
>>> Prof. Dr. Philipp A. Maas
>>> Professor for Modern Indology
>>> Institute of Indology and Tibetology
>>> Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich
>>> ___________________________
>>>
>>> https://spp1448.academia.edu/PhilippMaas
>>>
>>>
>>> Am Di., 4. Juni 2024 um 11:05 Uhr schrieb Howard Resnick via INDOLOGY <
>>> indology at list.indology.info>:
>>>
>>>> Dear Scholars,
>>>>
>>>> Does the nyāya system speak about the problem of an infinite regress of
>>>> proofs? Aristotle famously identifies and then avoids this problem through
>>>> the notion of a self-evident foundation or starting point of knowledge. In
>>>> Western epistemology, this strategy is often called foundationalism.
>>>>
>>>> Is there anything at all similar or analagous in nyāya or other Indian
>>>> schools? The Caitanya-caritāmṛta several times affirms that the Veda is
>>>> ’self-evident’, svataḥ pramāṇa, but the term is not used there as a general
>>>> or secular epistemic strategy. Is the CC simply repeating a well-known
>>>> epistemic principle?
>>>>
>>>> All help will be greatly appreciated.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks!
>>>> Howard
>>>>
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>>>
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>>
>>
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