Epistemology (Pramāṇas)

Abstract

In classical Hindu philosophy and classical Indian thought more generally, questions of epistemology, rationality, and public debate were typically framed in terms of pramāṇas, “means of knowing.” The term pramāṇa is sometimes used to refer to cognition itself, especially by Buddhist interlocutors, but more commonly pramāṇa refers to processes or causes of veridical cognition such as perception, inference, and testimony. Hindu thinkers were concerned with identifying and understanding such processes for two major reasons: first, they thought that an individual’s well-being depended on navigating the world effectively, which in turn depended on understanding it properly. As such, achieving life goals hinged on cognitive success. Understanding what sort of processes lead to knowledge as opposed to ignorance or doubt was crucial to sustained cognitive success and hence living well. Second, schools of thought and praxis had to defend their views and ways of life in the culture of robust debate pervading classical Indian intellectual life. Illustrating that one’s view or perspective was indeed supported by genuine pramāṇas, and that their opponent’s view was not, was one way to do this. Pramāṇas were thus often crucial to debates about fundamental questions in philosophy, as well as theology and ethics. And these questions were deeply tied to concerns about the best way to live. By way of example, for Mīmāṃsā, the need to defend the ultimate moral and religious authority of the Veda motivates them to develop a sophisticated epistemology of default justification for cognition, which is then applied to the Vedic testimony. For Nyāya, defending the existence of the self against Buddhist challengers leads to myriad inferences in support of its existence; these are held to be binding, as properly formed inference is a widely recognized pramāṇa. Articulating what constitutes a well-formed inference is then the basis of Nyāya developments in logic and the epistemology of inferential cognition. Vedāntic thinkers are both concerned with defending the Upaniṣadic literature (and denigrating yogic experience) as a source of knowledge of brahman, and characterizing the state of the deep self as a witness to the events of consciousness. In short, Hindu thinkers are deeply concerned with identifying, analyzing, and engaging in debate over what sorts of processes are basic irreducible means of knowing and how such processes generate epistemic normativity.