The Character of Logic in India.

• Author: Taber, John A.

The Character of Logic in India. By BIMAL KRISHNA MATILAL. Edited by JONARDON GANERI and HEERAMAN TIWARI. Albany: STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS, 1998. Pp. ix + 180. $22.95.

During the years 1989-91 B. K. Matilal worked on a new presentation of his views on Indian logic, which was also to serve as an introduction to the subject for philosophers. Unfortunately, he was unable to finish the project; however, Jonardon Ganeri and Heeraman Tiwari obtained the manuscript and have now published it in the present edited and revised form. Even though there are certain defects in the work that Matilal presumably would have gone on to correct, having to do with the fact that most of the chapters were originally published separately and therefore show certain inconsistencies, it is nevertheless an invaluable primer--a clear, concise, mostly reliable, and invariably interesting guide that philosophers surely will find very useful.

There are seven chapters. The first gives an historical sketch of the development of Indian logic, focusing on the Buddhist trairupya proposal and the Hindu response thereto, then goes on to discuss the fundamental concepts of "qualification" (of a visesya by a visesana) and "location" (of a dharma in a dharmin) and their similarities and differences from the Western idea of predication. The second and third chapters present the theory of different types of discussion (vada or katha) and the treatment of "sophistical rejoinders" (jatis) and "grounds for defeat" (nigrahasthanas) in early logic texts. Thus, proper emphasis is placed on the fact that Indian logic evolved primarily as a method for conducting debate; moreover, that the concern with the criteria of a good inference (anumana) was secondary to the endeavor to ascertain the features of a good demonstration or proof (sthapana, sadhana) that is, the means of convincing an opponent of one's point of view. It is characteristic of Matilal's broad approach that he considers in the second chapter not just the categorization of types of vada in the Carakasanthita and Nyayasutra but also the form of debate practiced in the Kathavatthu and the Jaina canons. His brief treatment in this same chapter of Nagarjunas' use of the catuskoti (in the context of a discussion of vitanda and skepticism), in terms of a distinction between illocutionary and propositional negation (the former not implying the affirmation of the opposite thesis), is a model of clarity; moreover, it is certainly on the right track. The third chapter gives helpful, readily comprehensible explanations not only of all the "sophistical rejoinders" (jatis) in the Nyayasutra but also those mentioned in the early Buddhist manuals; even Indologists, who may not always perfectly understand these terms as they encounter them in philosophical texts, will benefit from Matilal's discussion here. The fourth and fifth chapters, on Dinanga and Dharmakirti, respectively, form the core of the work. The justification of each of the...