[INDOLOGY] Direct Realism of Nyāya

Fri Jun 14 12:23:50 UTC 2024

On the particular point about Matilal, he uses both ‘direct’ and ‘naïve’ realism, as far as I can tell, interchangeably. And as Alex says, not all contemporary Western philosophers distinguish between the two (and even fewer did in the 1980s when Matilal was writing). With that in mind, and agreeing with Prof Łucyszyna on what we may interpret as Nyāya’s ‘explicit’ commitment,  Matilal’s own treatment of the nirākāra-vāda in Perception (1986) is worth looking at. Whether nirākāra-vāda should be read as direct or naïve realism or both is another matter.
Best,
Ram

Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad
Fellow of the British Academy
Distinguished Professor of Comparative Philosophy and Religion
Deputy Dean, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Lancaster University
U.K.

From: INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info> on behalf of Alex Watson via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>
Date: Friday, 14 June 2024 at 13:12
To: Ołena Łucyszyna <olucyszyna at iksio.pan.pl>, INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>
Cc: indology-bounces at list.indology.info <indology-bounces at list.indology.info>
Subject: [External] Re: [INDOLOGY] ODP: Direct Realism of Nyāya

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Dear Lee Ling

Did you have a definition of direct realism in mind?

If you're interested in Nyāya sources in particular, and not Mīmāṃsā sources, you could start by looking at the earliest commentaries on Nyāyasūtra 1.1.4.  The sūtra itself admits of too many interpretations to be decisive.

Thanks to Professor Łucyszyna for mentioning Watson & Kataoka (2010): it is available on my academia.edu<http://academia.edu/> page:
https://ashokauniversity.academia.edu/AlexWatson

By the way, Jonardon Ganeri's recent John Locke lectures distinguish, as some but not all contemporary philosophers of perception do, between direct realism and naive realism.  He argues that early Nyāya should properly be seen as naive realist, not direct realist; and that Matilal was wrong to depict it as mere direct realism.

Best
Alex

On Fri, Jun 14, 2024 at 12:07 PM Ołena Łucyszyna via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>> wrote:
Dear Lee Ling,

the nirākāra-(jñāna-)vāda (advocated by the Naiyāyikas, the Mīmāṃsakas, the Jainas, and the Vaibhāṣika Buddhists) can be called direct realism. The earliest text that formulates the nirākāra standpoint and sparks the nirākāra—sākāra debate is probably Śabara’s Śābarabhāṣya (to be more precise, the Vṛttikāra’s commentary cited by Śabara in Śābarabhāṣya I, 1, 5). Śabara’s commentator Kumārila Bhaṭṭa presents well-developed argumentation for the nirākāra-vāda in his Ślokavārttika (V, 4, the Śūnyavāda section). These two sources belong to Mīmāṃsā. The Nyāya source advocating the nirākāra-vāda I am familiar with is Bhaṭṭa Jayanta’s Nyāyamañjarī. For Bhaṭṭa Jayanta’s defence of the nirākāra-vāda, see

Kataoka, K. (2003). Critical edition of the Vijñānādvaitavāda section of Bhaṭṭa Jayanta’s Nyāyamañjarī. https://www2.lit.kyushu-u.ac.jp/~kkataoka/Kataoka/NMvijR.pdf.
Watson, A., & Kataoka, K. (2010). Bhaṭṭa Jayanta’s refutation of the Yogācāra Buddhist doctrine of Vijñānavāda: Annotated translation and analysis. South Asian Classical Studies, 5, 285–352.

This is one of many valuable publications I can recommend: Sinha, J. (1938). Indian realism. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.

The nirākāra-vāda can be called direct realism, but the sākāra-vāda has no correspondence in Western philosophy. The sākāra-vāda encompasses two very different theories: indirect realism (representationalism) and phenomenalism.

With best regards,
Olena
--
Ołena Łucyszyna, Dr. habil., Professor of the Institute<http://www.iksiopan.pl/index.php/en/structure/research-staff/867-olena-lucyszyna-phd-dr-habil>
of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures
Polish Academy of Sciences
Nowy Świat 72
00-330 Warsaw
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6972-649X

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Temat: [INDOLOGY] Direct Realism of Nyāya

Dear members of the list,

Greetings!
I have a question to ask.
What are some of the earliest Nyāya sources that explicitly spell out that Naiyāyikas uphold direct realism (not just realism)? I'd appreciate it if you could point me in the right direction.
Thank you!

Best regards,
Lee Ling

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Alex Watson
Professor of Indian Philosophy, Ashoka University
https://ashokauniversity.academia.edu/AlexWatson
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