142540 SE Verbal communication as a means of knowledge in classical Nyaya (2020S)

Course content: Among the four means of knowledge (pramāṇa) enumerated in Nyāyasūtra (NS) 1.1.3 and characterized in sūtra-s 1.1.4–8, verbal communication (śabda), enumerated last in sūtra 1.1.3, is allotted by far the highest number of sūtra-s in the examination of means of knowledge in the second adhyāya of the Nyāyasūtra, where it is discussed under several perspectives. Even though the philosophical tradition of Nyāya is often designated as “logic” and even equated with it, this points at a very significant place of this at least partly “orthodox–conservative” means of knowledge within the tradition. In this seminar, starting from sūtra-s 1.1.7–8 we will skip in our readings to NS 2.1.47ff., where an opponent questions that verbal communication is a means of knowledge different from inference. Upon its establishment as such, the validity of the Veda, as one of the two kinds of verbal communication, is being discussed with philosophical opponents in NS 2.1.55–66. Later on, in the second āhnika of this adhyāya, no less than a further 55 sūtra-s are devoted to the discussion of sound, inarticulate as well as articulate. However, we will confine our own exploration and discussion of verbal communication in this seminar to the various – and long-lasting – issues addressed in NS 2.1.47–66, on the basis of our reading of the earliest preserved classical commentary on the Nyāyasūtra by Vātsyāyana, the Nyāyabhāṣya (first half of the 5th c.), with occasional reference to Uddyotakara’s Nyāyavārttika on both the Nyāyasūtra and, predominantly, the Nyāyabhāṣya (6th c.).
Participants are expected to prepare the assigned texts comprehensively and in depth, and to translate and interpret them independently, based on their exploration of the thematic context by means of the relevant secondary literature. Furthermore, participants are encouraged to independently consult and present additional primary materials in class and to participate in the critical discussion of selected secondary sources in the sessions.