Table Of ContentINDIAN LOGIC
A READER
INDIAN LOGIC
A READER
Edited by
Jonardon Ganeri
I~ ~~ O~;~~~~~UP
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First Publishedi n 2001
by Routledge
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Contents
Preface VII
Introduction: Indian Logic and the Colonizationo f Reason 1
Jonardon Ganeri
Chapter1 : The Philosophyo f the Hindus: On the Nyaya
and Vaise~ika Systems( 1824) 26
Henry T. Colebrooke
Chapter2 : On Indian Logic (1853) 59
Max Muller
Chapter3 : A Note on the Indian Syllogism (1924) 75
H. N. Randle
Chapter4 : Studiesi n Indian Logic (1932-3) 93
StanislawS chayer
Chapter5 : On the Method of Researchin to Nyaya (1933) 102
StanislawS chayer
Chapter6 : Logic in India (1955) 110
Daniel H. H. Ingalls
Chapter7 : The Indian Variety of Logic (1956) 117
1. M. Bochenski
V
Contents
Chapter8 : The Concepto f Paks.a in Indian Logic (1973) 151
J. F. Staal
Chapter9 : Some Aspectso f the Navya-NyayaT heory of
Inference( 1987) 162
Sibajiban Bhattacharyya
Chapter1 0: Introducing Indian Logic (1998) 183
Bimal Krishna Matilal
Readingsi n Indian Logic 216
VI
Preface
The modern study of classical Indian systems of logic began with
H. T. Colebrooke's'd iscovery'o f the Hindu syllogism -a schemaf or
correct reasoninga s describedi n the early Indian texts. The report of
his discovery to the Royal Asiatic Society in 1824 led to a flurry of
interesti n Indian logic in the next thirty years,a ttractingt he attention
even of the best logicians of the time, people like Boole and De
Morgan. Interesti n the Indian materialsw as sufficiently great for the
celebrated Indologist Max Muller to be asked to contribute an
appendixo n 'Indian Logic' to one of the standardl ogic textbookso f
the period. The next landmark in the western study of Indian logic
was the publication by H. N. Randle of an article on the Indian
syllogism in the highly respectedp hilosophicalj ournal Mind in 1924.
Modern researchi nto Indian logic had to wait, however, until the
work of StanislawS chayeri n the 1930s.S chayerw as a mathematical
logician who trained under lukasiewicz, the great Polish interpreter
of Aristotle's syllogistic theory. Schayer'sw ork on Indian logic marked
a turning point, for he brought a detailed knowledge of western
logical theory to his interpretationo f the Indian systems.H is articles
are for the first time translatedh ere into English. Further pioneering
work was done by Daniel Ingalls, whose book Materials for the Study
of Navya-NyayaL ogic (1951) is still a definitive treatise,a nd I. M.
Bochenski,w hosec haptero n Indian logic in his A History of Formal
Logic (1956) again brought the Indian systemst o the attention of
western scholars, much as Coleb rooke's had a hundred and thirty
years before. Frits Staal is widely regardeda s a very astutei nterpreter
of Indian logic becauseo f his articles on the topic in the late 1960s
Vll
Preface
and early 1970s,a nd since him the work of SibajibanB hattacharyya
and Bimal Matilal representst he latest research into the subject
(indeed,M atilal's last and most penetratingw ork on Indian logic has
only recently and posthumouslyb een published). With their work a
modern audience can begin finally to understand the distinctive
contourso f Indian logic, where it differs from the westernt heory, as
well as where it overlaps, and where its uniquenessa nd potential
lies.
The articles collected here were originally published as follows:
[1] Colebrooke, H. T. (1824) "On the Philosophy of the Hindus:
Part II - On the Nyaya and Vaiseshikas ystems".T ransactionso f the
Royal Asiatic Society 1: 92-118. [2] Miiller, M. (1853) "Indian
Logic". Printed as an Appendix to Thomson,W . (1853), An Outline
of the NecessaryL aws of Thought. 3rd edition. London: Longmans,
Green, and Co. [3] Randle, H. N. (1924) "A Note on the Indian
Syllogism". Mind 33: 398-414. [4] Schayer,S t. (1932-3) "Studiesi n
Indian Logic. 1: The Indian and Aristotelian Syllogisms. 2: Ancient
Indian Anticipations of Propositional Logic". Bulletin International
de I'Academie Polonaise des Sciences et des Lettres, Classe de
Philo logie, Krakow, fif. 4-6: 98-102 (1932) and fif. 1-6: 90-96
(1933). Krakow. Translatedi nto English by JoergT uske. [5] Schayer,
St. (1933) "Uber die Methoded er Nyaya-Forschung"i,n O. Stein and
W. Gamberte ds.,F estschriftf ur Moritz Winternitz: 247-257.L eipzig.
Translatedi nto English by Joerg Tuske. [6] Ingalls, D. H. H. (1955)
"Logic in India". Entry in the EncyclopaediaB ritannica, 14th edition,
vol. 8: 311-312;r eprintedb y permissiono f EncyclopaediaB ritannica,
Inc. [7] Bochenski,I . M. (1956) "The Indian Variety of Logic", in his
A History of Formal Logic. Freiburg. Trans. I. Thomas,N otre Dame:
University of Notre Dame Press( 1961), pp. 416-447.[ 8] Staal, Frits.
(1973). "The Concepto f Pak~a in Indian Logic", Journal of Indian
Philosophy2 : 156-66; reprinted by permissiono f Kluwer Academic
Publishers.[ 9] BhattacharyyaS, . (1987) "Some Aspectso f the Navya-
Nyaya Theory of Inference", chapter 17 of Doubt, Belief and
Knowledge (Delhi: Indian Council of Philosophical Research),
pp. 245-267,i ncorporatingt he text of his "The Middle Term", Notre
DameJ ournal of Formal Logic 9 (1968); reprinted by permissiono f
the Indian Council of Philosophical Research.[ 10] Matilal, B. K.
(1998). "Introducing Indian Logic", Chapter 1 of JonardonG aneri
and HeeramanT iwari, eds., The Character of Logic in India, SUNY
Press( 1998), pp. 1-30; by permissiono f the State University of New
York Press.© State University of New York. All Rights Reserved.
Vlll
Preface
I would like to thank JoergT uske both for very ably translatingt he
articles by StanislawS chayeri nto English and for bringing his detailed
knowledge of Indian logic to bear in helping me plan this volume. I
would also like to thank JonathanP rice for commissioningt he book
for Curzon Press.
Jonardon Ganeri
IX
Introduction:
Indian Logic and the
Colonization of Reason
Jo nardon Ganeri
1 LOGIC EAST AND WEST
In 1955, H. H. Price, who was then the Wykeham Professoro f Logic
in Oxford, wrote an article entitled "The PresentR elations between
Easterna nd Western Philosophy". He reports there his belief in the
existence of a "vast chasm" separating the two philosophical
traditions, one of which "looks outward and is concernedw ith Logic
and with the presuppositionso f scientific knowledge; the other
inward, into the 'deep yet dazzling darkness' of the mystical
consciousness("1 955: 222). While the job of the Westernp hilosopher
is the analysisa nd clarification of the conceptsw hich grounds cientific
enquiry, the Eastern,m ore particularly Indian, philosopheri s said to
explore a "mysterious and fundamental sort of self-knowledge",
which, though it cannot be literally described,c an be "spoken of in
paradoxesa nd parables" (1955: 227). For Price, there is a sharp
division of cultural labour: Westerna nd Easternp hilosophersa re not
to be thought of simply as giving different answers to the same
perennialp hilosophicalp uzzles; they can hardly be regardede ven as
asking the sameq uestions.
Price, indeed, gives expressiont o a dogma, one which by his time
had acquiredt he statuso f an orthodoxy, but which has its roots in an
earlier period. Most likely, it was transmitted to Price, directly or
indirectly, by Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan,w ho lived and taught in
Oxford in the late 1930s, and whose representationso f India's
intellectual past were almost universally and uncritically acceptedb y
his English philosophical audience. According to Radhakrishnan,
1
