Question on method of arriving at conclusions

M Suresh msuresh at INDIA.TI.COM
Mon Jul 8 11:37:57 CDT 1996


Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian <rbalasub at ECN.PURDUE.EDU> wrote :

> I have a question on the method of coming to conclusions in advaita. In my
> debate about the apaurusheyatva of the vedas with Shrisha Rao, he claimed that
> vedantins accept "what cannot be disproved beyond doubt as the truth". Does
> this method of analysis find acceptance among advaitins?

  The very fact that someone takes support of the fact that something cannot be
  disproved to stake claim for its truth means that it cannot be proved either.
  So whatever is to be passed of as truth based on the above criterion can
  neither pe proved nor disproved.

  If you cannot cannot prove or disprove a truth "X", it means that :

  1) X is false cannot be disproved.

  2) X is true cannot be disproved.

  Both  1 & 2 above satisfy the criterion "cannot be disproved beyond doubt". So
  both have to be accepted as true which is not possible. So the solution is to
  reject the criterion for the conclusion.

  However I am sure all would have come to the above conclusion after some
  reasoning. I have just stated it in one more possible way.

  As far as philosophy goes, logic, intuition and direct experience can be
 ranked
  in the increasing order. I do not know about advaita in particular.

-Suresh.



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