Categories or Padārthas (Introduction)

Almost all the philosophical systems of India accept liberation as the ultimate goal of life; it is the summum bonum. For attaining liberation different philosophies prescribe different means. According to Gautama, liberation can be attained by the true knowledge of the categories or padārthas.^[1] Literally, the term padārtha means the meaning of a word (padasya arthaḥ) or an object signified by a word. Padārtha is that which is an object of cognition and which can be named (abhidheya).^[2] It means all objects of experience.^[3]

According to the Annaṃbhaṭṭa, all things of the world and their relationship with one another come under the seven independent categories.^[4] The Vaiśeṣika categories are separate from the categories of Aristotle, Kant and Hegel. According to Aristotle, categories are logical classification of predicates; Kant states that categories are only patterns of the understanding and Hegel’s categories are dynamic stages in the development of thought, but the Vaiśeṣika categories are metaphysical classification of all knowable objects.

Aristotle accepts ten categories:

1. Substance,
2. Quality,
3. Quantity,
4. Relation,
5. Place,
6. Time,
7. Posture,
8. Property,
9. Activity and
10. Passivity.^[5]

But the Vaiśeṣikas include the time and place under substance, relation under quality, inherence, quantity and property are quality, passivity is the opposite of activity.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

pramāṇaprameyasaṃśayaprayojanadṛṣṭāntasiddhāntāvayavatarkanirṇaya-vādajalpavitaṇḍāhetvābhāsacchalajātinigrahasthānānāṃ tattvajñānānniśre-yasādhigamaḥ. Nyāyasūtra, 1.1.1

[2]:

padasyārthaḥ padārtha iti vyutpatyābhidheyatvaṃpadārthasāmānyalakṣaṇam. Dīpikā on Tarkasaṃgraha, p. 2

[3]:

pramitiviṣayāḥ padārthāḥ. Saptapadārthī, p.13

[4]:

Gajendragadkar, A.B. and Karmakar, R.D. (ed.), Tarkasaṃgraha., p.24

[5]:

Edwards, Paul, The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Vol. II, p.46