View source for Category (Vaisheshika)

{{Italic title}}
{{Short description|Ontological categories in Indian philosophy}}
{{Hindu philosophy}}
'''{{IAST|Padārtha}}''' is a [[Sanskrit]] word for "categories" in [[Vaisheshika]] and [[Nyaya]] schools of [[Indian philosophy]].<ref name=stanfordpadarth>[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/early-modern-india/#WhaVaiSysCat Padārtha], Jonardon Ganeri (2014), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy</ref><ref name="Ingalls1951p37">{{cite book|author=Daniel Henry Holmes Ingalls|title=Materials for the Study of Navya-nyāya Logic|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ENvsAAAAIAAJ|year=1951|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-0384-8|pages=37–39}}</ref>

== Etymology ==
The term {{IAST|padārtha}} is a [[portmanteau]] of {{IAST|pada}}, "word" and {{IAST|artha}}, "meaning" or "referent", and so the term {{IAST|padārtha}} indicates "the meaning or referent of words".<ref name="Gian Publishing House">{{cite book|last1=Mishra|first1=Umesh|title=Conception of matter according to Nyayavaisesika|date=1987|publisher=Gian Publishing House|location=Delhi|pages=345–347}}</ref>

== Philosophical significance==
Almost all of India's philosophical systems accept liberation as life's ultimate goal; it is the ''[[summum bonum]]''. Each philosophy prescribes the means to that end independently. According to [[Aksapada Gautama]], liberation can be attained by true knowledge of the categories or ''padārthas''.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Ganeri|first1=Jonardon|title=Analytic Philosophy in Early Modern India|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/early-modern-india/|website=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|access-date=19 March 2018}}</ref> According to the [[Vaisheshika]] school, all things that exist, which can be conceptualized, and that can be named are ''padārthas'', the objects of experience.

== Types ==

=== Vaisheshika ===
According to [[Vaisheshika]], ''padārtha'' or objects of experience can be divided as {{IAST|bhāva}} (real existence) and {{IAST|abhāva}} (non-existence). The ''bhāva padārthas'' are of six types, while abhāva was added later.<ref name="Gian Publishing House"/> These are:

*{{IAST|Dravya}} (substance), an entity having ''guna'' and ''karma''
*{{IAST|Guṇa}} (quality), the substrate of substance, devoid of action
*{{IAST|Karma}} (activity), transient and dynamic, i.e., upward movement, downward movement, contraction, expansion, and locomotion
*{{IAST|Sāmānya}} (generality), the classicism of the substances i.e. ''papa'', ''apara,'' ''parapara''
*{{IAST|Viśeṣa}} (particularity)
*{{IAST|Samavāya}} (inherence)
*{{IAST|abhāva}} (non-existence), add by later Vaiśeṣikas scholars such as Śrīdhara, Udayana and Śivāditya.<ref name="defPadartha">{{cite web|url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/padartha |title=Padartha, aka: Padārtha; 7 Definition(s)|website=Wisdom library|date=21 July 2013|access-date=19 March 2018}}</ref>

=== Nyaya ===

Nyāya metaphysics recognizes sixteen {{IAST|padārtha}}s, the second of which, called {{IAST|prameya}}, includes the six (or seven) categories of the Vaiśeṣika school.<ref name="defPadartha" /> They are:

{{columns-list|colwidth=20em|#{{IAST|Pramāṇa}} (valid means of knowledge)
#{{IAST|Prameya}} (objects of valid knowledge)
#{{IAST|Saṃśaya}} (doubt)
#{{IAST|Prayojana}} (aim)
#{{IAST|Dṛṣṭānta}} (example)
#{{IAST|Siddhānta}} (conclusion)
#{{IAST|Avayava}} (members of syllogism)
#{{IAST|Tarka}} (hypothetical reasoning)
#{{IAST|Nirṇaya}} (settlement)
#{{IAST|Vāda}} (discussion)
#{{IAST|Jalpa}} (wrangling)
#{{IAST|Vitaṇḍā}} (cavilling)
#{{IAST|Hetvābhāsa}} (fallacy)
#{{IAST|Chala}} (quibbling)
#{{IAST|Jāti}} (sophisticated refutation)
#{{IAST|Nigrahasthāna}} (point of defeat)
}}

=== Western philosophy ===
{{IAST|Padārtha}}s are distinct from the [[Categories (Aristotle)|categories of Aristotle]], [[Category (Kant)|Kant]], and [[Theory of categories#Hegel|Hegel]]. According to Aristotle, categories are logical classification of predicates; Kant states that categories are only patterns of understanding, while Hegel’s categories are dynamic stages in the development of thought. The Vaiśeṣika categories are a metaphysical classification of all knowable objects. 

Aristotle accepts ten categories: 

* Substance
* Quality
* Quantity
* Relation
* Place
* Time
* Posture
* Property
* Activity
* Passivity

The Vaiśeṣikas instead place the concepts of time and place under substance; relation under quality; inherence, quantity and property under quality. Passivity is considered the opposite of activity. Akṣapāda Gautama enumerates sixteen {{IAST|padārtha}}s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Edwards |first1=Paul |title=The Encyclopedia of Philosophy |volume=II |page=46}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Vaisheshika#The Categories or Pad%C4%81rtha]]
* [[Nyaya#Sixteen categories (padārthas)]]
* [[Categories_(Aristotle)]]
* [[Kanada (philosopher)|Kanada]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/33239/33239-h/33239-h.htm#ar30 Category in the Encyclopædia Britannica]
* [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/early-modern-india/#WhaVaiSysCat Padārtha in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]

{{Indian philosophy}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Padartha}}
[[Category:Hindu philosophical concepts]]
[[Category:Philosophical categories]]