Vaisheshika (IAST: Vaiśeṣika; /vaɪˈʃɛʃɪkə/; Sanskrit: वैशेषिक) is one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy from ancient India. In its early stages, the Vaiśeṣika was an independent philosophy with its own metaphysics, epistemology, logic, ethics, and soteriology.[1] Over time, the Vaiśeṣika system became similar in its philosophical procedures, ethical conclusions and soteriology to the Nyāya school of Hinduism, but retained its difference in epistemology and metaphysics.
The epistemology of the Vaiśeṣika school of Hinduism, like Buddhism, accepted only two reliable means to knowledge: direct observation and inference.[2][3] The Vaiśeṣika school and Buddhism both consider their respective scriptures as indisputable and valid means to knowledge, the difference being that the scriptures held to be a valid and reliable source by Vaiśeṣikas were the Vedas.
The Vaiśeṣika school is known for its insights in naturalism.[4][5] It is a form of atomism in natural philosophy.[6] It postulated that all objects in the physical universe are reducible to paramāṇu (atoms), and one's experiences are derived from the interplay of substance (a function of atoms, their number and their spatial arrangements), quality, activity, commonness, particularity and inherence.[7] Everything was composed of atoms, qualities emerged from aggregates of atoms, but the aggregation and nature of these atoms was predetermined by cosmic forces. Ājīvika metaphysics included a theory of atoms which was later adapted in the Vaiśeṣika school.[8]
According to the Vaiśeṣika school, knowledge and liberation were achievable by a complete understanding of the world of experience.[7]
Vaiśeṣika darshana was founded by Kaṇāda Kashyapa around the 6th to 2nd century BC.[9][10][11]
^Amita Chatterjee (2011), Nyāya-vaiśeṣika Philosophy, The Oxford Handbook of World Philosophy, doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195328998.003.0012
^Cite error: The named reference dpsb was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference eliottjag was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Dale Riepe (1996), Naturalistic Tradition in Indian Thought, ISBN 978-8120812932, pages 227-246
^Kak, S. 'Matter and Mind: The Vaisheshika Sutra of Kanada' (2016), Mount Meru Publishing, Mississauga, Ontario, ISBN 978-1-988207-13-1.
^Analytical philosophy in early modern India Archived 18 March 2019 at the Wayback Machine J Ganeri, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
^ abOliver Leaman, Key Concepts in Eastern Philosophy. Routledge, ISBN 978-0415173629, 1999, page 269.
^Basham 1951, pp. 262–270. sfn error: no target: CITEREFBasham1951 (help)
^Jeaneane D. Fowler 2002, pp. 98–99.
^Oliver Leaman (1999), Key Concepts in Eastern Philosophy. Routledge, ISBN 978-0415173629, page 269
^J Ganeri (2012), The Self: Naturalism, Consciousness, and the First-Person Stance, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0199652365
Vaisheshika (IAST: Vaiśeṣika; /vaɪˈʃɛʃɪkə/; Sanskrit: वैशेषिक) is one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy from ancient India. In its early stages,...
Properties of Matter) and a commentary, titled Praśastapāda Bhāṣya, on the Vaisheshika Sutras of Kanada (circa 2nd century BCE); both texts are comprehensive...
Kanada may refer to: Kaṇāda, the Hindu sage who founded the philosophy of Vaisheshika Kanada (family of ragas), a group of ragas in Hindustani music Kanada...
BCE); the Sanskrit grammar rules of Pāṇini (c. 5th century BCE); the Vaisheshika school's analysis of atomism (c. 6th century BCE to 2nd century BCE);...
Second Sophistic Neoplatonism Church Fathers Indian Hindu Samkhya Nyaya Vaisheshika Yoga Mīmāṃsā Ājīvika Ajñana Cārvāka Jain Anekantavada Syādvāda Buddhist...
ancient and medieval India. The diverse Hindu schools such as Nyaya-Vaisheshika, Samkhya-Yoga and Mimamsa-Vedanta, all accepted the premise of Atman...
subcontinent. They include both orthodox (astika) systems, namely, the Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Purva-Mimamsa (or Mimamsa), and Vedanta (Advaita, Dwaita...
which recognise the authority of the Vedas, are: Sānkhya, Yoga, Nyāya, Vaisheshika, Mimāmsā, and Vedānta. Hindu texts have been classified into Śruti ("heard")...
found in Sanskrit texts, such as Shvetashvatara Upanishad, Samkhya, Vaisheshika and others texts with the meaning of "evidence" of God and God's existence...
Second Sophistic Neoplatonism Church Fathers Indian Hindu Samkhya Nyaya Vaisheshika Yoga Mīmāṃsā Ājīvika Ajñana Cārvāka Jain Anekantavada Syādvāda Buddhist...
dualism of René Descartes. Padārtha is a Sanskrit word for "categories" in Vaisheshika and Nyaya schools of Indian philosophy. The Stoics held that all beings...
Second Sophistic Neoplatonism Church Fathers Indian Hindu Samkhya Nyaya Vaisheshika Yoga Mīmāṃsā Ājīvika Ajñana Cārvāka Jain Anekantavada Syādvāda Buddhist...
the oldest of the Indian technical philosophical schools (e.g. Nyaya, Vaisheshika and Buddhist ontology), one that evolved over time and influenced the...
Second Sophistic Neoplatonism Church Fathers Indian Hindu Samkhya Nyaya Vaisheshika Yoga Mīmāṃsā Ājīvika Ajñana Cārvāka Jain Anekantavada Syādvāda Buddhist...
Second Sophistic Neoplatonism Church Fathers Indian Hindu Samkhya Nyaya Vaisheshika Yoga Mīmāṃsā Ājīvika Ajñana Cārvāka Jain Anekantavada Syādvāda Buddhist...
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