Savyabhicāra
From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia
By Swami Harshananda
Savyabhicāra literally means ‘irregular middle’.
According to the Nyāya system of religious philosophy, there are five kinds of hetvābhāsas[1] of which the first is savyabhicāra. Here the middle term of the syllogism is irregular. To illustrate it can be denoted as follows:
- All bipeds are rational.
- Swans are bipeds.
- Hence swans are rational.
Since the middle term ‘biped’ is not uniformly related to the major term ‘rational,’ the conclusion is inferred to be not correct.[2]
References[edit]
- ↑ Hetvābhāsas means invalid reasonings.
- ↑ Vyabhicāra is a technical term which means the absence of cause and effect relationship between two things.
- The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore