Volume-XI, Issue-IV, July 2025 |
The Simultaneity of Cognition by Mind: A Nyᾱya and Sᾱṁkhya Controversy Sanjay Sau, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, SMHGGDC For Women, West Bengal, India |
Received: 07.06.2025 | Accepted: 08.07.2025 | Published Online: 31.07.2025 | Page No: | ||||
DOI: 10.29032/ijhsss.vol.11.issue.04W.106 | |||||||
ABSTRACT | ||
In Indian Epistemology mind plays an important role to obtain knowledge. Every Indian system, either orthodox or heterodox, admits mind to explain cognition. The Nyᾱya-Vaiśeṣika system admits the mind as an eternal substance. It is also an internal sense organ. It is eternal, corporeal, partless, atomic, unconscious and many in number. It is associated with each individual soul due to the will of God. An individual soul experiences pleasure, pain etc. when it is associated with a physical body as well as mind. So, the mind is also an instrument of enjoyment and suffering like the body. According to Sᾱṁkhya system, mind is a psychical apparatus. It comes out of ahaṁkara in its sᾱttvika aspect. It is the central organ which plays both the roles of organ of knowledge and organ of action. It supervises the functions of both kinds of sense organs. They can’t perform their functions without the help of mind. Without the supervision of mind there can be no sense perception or action. There is a controversy between the Nyᾱya-Vaiśeṣika philosophers and the Sᾱṁkhya philosophers regarding the function of mind. According to the Nyᾱya-Vaiśeṣika philosophers, mind can produce cognition (perceptual cognition) gradually. It can’t produce cognition simultaneously. But, according to Īśvarakṛṣṇa, cognition (perceptual cognition) is produced simultaneously as well as gradually. In this paper, I have discussed both the views of Nyᾱya and Sᾱṁkhya and tried to show the claim of Sᾱṁkhya is not justified. Keywords: Nyᾱya-Vaiśeṣika, Sᾱṁkhya, Mind, Simultaneously and Gradually |