Vier Studien zum altindischen Syllogismus.

AuthorROCHER, LUDO
PositionReview

Vier Studien zum altindischen Syllogismus. By CLAUS OETKE. Philosophia Indica, Einsichten-Ansichten, vol. 2. Reinbek: VERLAG FUR ORIENTALISTICHE FACHPUBLIKATIONEN, 1994.

The goal of this publication is to probe five theses connected with the evaluation of the five-member syllogism in Indian logic. These are clearly summarized at the start (pp. 5-6): (1) There are several different versions of the five-member syllogism; it is, therefore, wrong to pronounce evaluations on "the" five-member syllogism. (2) The objection that parts of the five-member syllogism are identical and, hence, redundant, is inadequate. It is also possible that the repetition of identical propositions served specific purposes, and, therefore, is not redundant. (3) The recurrent opinion among Western scholars that the oldest forms of Indian logic were improved upon by later developments misses the point. The relation between the five-member syllogism and later theories and concepts is not necessarily competitive, since they can also be related to different kinds of inquiry. (4) The inclusion of analogous situations, which is characteristic of the five-member syllogism, does not necessarily reflect "primiti ve" analogical thinking. (5) In order correctly to understand and evaluate the five-member syllogism and related theories, it is imperative to go beyond the framework of traditional logic in the narrower sense of the word.

Whereas "die Untersuchungen in ihrer Gesamtheit sollen die funfte These beweisen und zugleich naher spezifizieren, was diese im einzelnen bedeutet" (p. 7), the first three theses are dealt with primarily in the first chapter, "Eine Rehabilitierung des funfgliedrigen Syllogismus," which immediately questions Frauwallner's sweeping statement: "Das Wesentliche ist aber, dass man bei dem, was spater das Kernstuck der Dialektik ausmachte, bei der Lehre vom Beweis, vorlaufig keinen grosseren Fortschritt erzielte. Uber die Aufstellung von funf oder zehn Gliedern der Beweisfuhrung (avayavah) und uber ein Schema primitiver Analogieschlusse kam man nicht hinaus" (Geschichte der indischen Philosophie [1957], 2: 106). According...

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