Pervasion

Concept · 3 readings

Pervasion is a connection that runs in one required direction: a reason must not occur without what it is meant to establish.

All readings

3 readings · Title A–Z

Inference under challenge · Lesson 2 of 2
Dharmakīrti: a reason that establishes its conclusion
For Dharmakīrti, a reason must belong to its subject and be inseparable from what it establishes, and the connection must be known. The lesson compares his account with Nyāya’s, keeping apart what follows, what is known and what a countercase defeats.
Guided course · Module 3 · Lesson 9
How can we tell whether we know?
Nyāya counts perception, inference and testimony among the ways of coming to know, and sets out an inference in five steps. How can inquiry check its own instruments without demanding certainty in advance?
Inference under challenge · Lesson 1 of 2
Nyāya: what warrants an inference?
Setting out a Nyāya inference in five parts does not establish its warrant: the sign must be connected to what it proves, in the right direction. A countercase can expose an additional condition without showing that the conclusion is false.

Inference under challenge
What makes a sign a reason to believe something we cannot see? Follow selected Nyāya accounts and Dharmakīrti’s argument to examine the connection a sign needs, our grounds for relying on it and what a countercase can show.