Nirvikalpaka Pratyaksha (study)
by Sujit Roy | 2013 | 40,056 words
This essay studies Nirvikalpaka Pratyaksha or “Indeterminate perception” primarily based on Nyaya Philosophy and Bauddha philosophy. Pratyaksa is that cognition which is produced by the contact of a sense organ with an object. It is a direct cognition of reality which is not derived through the medium or instrumentality of any other cognition....
Chapter 5c - Nirvikalpaka Pratyakṣa in Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika
The Nyāya-Vaiśeṣikas[1] admit two stages of pratyakṣa, namely, nirvikalpaka and savikalpaka. Nirvikalpaka pratyakṣa is an earlier stage and the savikalpaka is a later stage of pratyakṣa. Actually they are not two different kinds of pratyakṣa, but they are only the earlier and the later stages of the same complex process of pratyakṣa.
Vācaspati[2] was the first to use the term ‘nirvikalpaka’ in Nyāya epistemology. According to him, the term ‘avyapadeśyam’ in the Nyāya-sūtra (1.1.4) means ‘that which cannot be expressed by words’, which, in fact refers to the nirvikalpaka pratyakṣa, for it is not specified by a nāma, jāti, etc. and is, therefore indefinite, while the word ‘vyavasāyātmakaṃ’ denotes the savikalpaka pratyakṣa which means ‘that which is definite or certain’, pointing to something specified by its nāma, jāti, etc. By these two terms Vācaspati claims that Gautama intends to divide pratyakṣa into nirvikalpaka pratyakṣa and savikalpaka pratyakṣa. The term ‘avyapadeśyam’ implies nirvikalpaka pratyakṣa and the term ‘vyavasāyātmakaṃ’ implies savikalpaka pratyakṣa. Gaṅgeśa[3] was the most efficient epistemologist to discuss in detail the nature of nirvikalpaka and savikalpaka pratyakṣa. According to him, nirvikalpaka pratyakṣa is not a cognition of an entity as qualified, (where a qualificandum is cognized as qualified by a qualifier). It has no predicative content or any mode. On the other hand, savikalpaka pratyakṣa is a cognition of a qualificandum qualified by a qualifier, where the qualifier is provided by a prior cognition. Most of the other systems of Indian philosophy take nirvikalpaka pratyakṣa as suitable in their own epistemologies.
The Sāṃkhya, the Prabhākara and Bhaṭṭa Mīmāṃsā, and the Advaita Vedānta accept two stages of pratyakṣa, namely nirvikalpaka and savikalpaka. Rāmānuja (1017-1137 A.D), the founder of the Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta, accepts the distinction between the savikalpaka and nirvikalpaka pratyakṣa as two different types of qualified cognition . Only to him, the two alike involve a complex content.[4] Our discussion in this chapter covers particularly the views of the Sāṃkhya-Yoga, Mīmāṃsā, Advaita Vedānta, and the Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta systems of Indian philosophy.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
In Vaiśeṣika philosophy Praśastapāda (400A.D) in his Padārthadharmasaṃgraha defines pratyakṣa as: “tatrākṣamakṣaṃ pratītyotpadyate iti pratyakṣam” i.e. pratyakṣa is that cognition which is produced by the akṣa. According to him, it is of two kinds, viz., svarūpālocanamātra and viśeṣaṇāpekṣa jñāna. The term ‘ālocana’ means svarūpamātra cognition of objects. And the cognition without the all types of dharma or viśeṣaṇa is called svarūpamātra cognition. Praśastapāda says,—“catuṣṭayasannikarṣād dharmādisāmagre ca svarūpālocanamātram” i.e. there is no need to another type of cognition without sannikarṣa for svarūpālocanamātra jñāna.—In other words, there is no need to viśeṣaṇa jñāna. He further says, “guṇakarma sāmānyaviśeṣeṣu samavāyeṣu cāvitathaṃ svarūpadarśanamutpadyate. tatra sāmānyaviśeṣeṣu svarūpālocanamātraṃ pratyakṣaṃ pramāṇaṃ prameyāḥ dravyādayaḥ padārthāḥ pramātā hi ātmā pramitirdravyādiviṣayaṃ jñānam. sāmānyaviśeṣajñānotpattvāvavibhaktamālocanamātraṃ pratyakṣaṃ pramāṇam.” It means that svarūpālocanamātra jñāna is the universal (sāmānya) cognition of sattvā, guṇattva, karmattva etc. Svarūpālocanamātra jñāna is a pramāṇa. It is undivided and saṃsargānavagāhī cognition. This svarūpālocanamātra jñāna is called well known as nirvikalpaka pratyakṣa in the other systems of Indian philosophy. On the other hand, viśeṣaṇāpekṣa jñāna means viśeṣaṇaviśiṣṭa jñāna which is known as savikalpaka pratyakṣa in the other systems of Indian philosophy. Collected from Pradyot Kumar Mandal’s ‘Praśastapādera Darśana’, p. 106 -108.
[2]:
According to Vācaspati Miśra, the term ‘avyapadeśya’ in the sūtra(1.1.4) means ‘ālocana’. On the other hand, the term ‘vyapadeśya’ signifies ‘a substantive as qualified by an attribute’ (viśeṣaṇa-viśiṣṭa-viśeṣya). So, avyapadeśyam means the pratyakṣa without a substantive-attribute relation which is known as nirvikalpaka pratyakṣa.
[3]:
According to Navya-Naiyāyikas, nirvikalpaka pratyakṣa is niṣprakāraka and savikalpaka pratyakṣa is saprakāraka. A cognition is niṣprakāraka means the object of that cognition is devoid of any type of determinans (prakāra) like nāma, jāti etc.—On the other hand, a cognition is saprakāraka means the object of that cognition has determinans (prakāra) like nāma, jāti etc.
[4]:
Quoted from M. Hiriyanna’s ‘Outlines of Indian Philosophy’, p. 386.