Abstract

This book provides a comprehensive account of the Nyaya-Vaisheshika teachings. Nyaya and Vaisheshika are two of the six philosophical systems of Hinduism, much less known in the West than the more popular Yoga and Vedanta systems. Nyaya teaches reasoning to determine what is valid knowledge, and Vaisheshika teaches what are the ultimate constituents of the universe. The author wrote this book after seeing how little understood was Indian philosophy in the West. He tried to take account of Western presuppositions in presenting this Indian system. At the same time, he followed the Indian practice of adopting the Nyaya-Vaisheshika position as his own while writing about it.