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A University of Sussex DPhil thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details Generative Knowledge: a pragmatist logic of inquiry articulated by the classical Indian philosopher Bhaṭṭa Kumārila Jaspal Peter Sahota Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Philosophy University of Sussex January 2015 i Declaration I hereby declare that: • this thesis has not been and will not be submitted, in whole or in part, to any other University for a degree • where I have drawn on the research of others, this has always been clearly indicated Signature: Date: ii UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX JASPAL PETER SAHOTA DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Generative Knowledge: a pragmatist logic of inquiry articulated by the classical Indian philosopher Bhaṭṭ a Kumārila SUMMARY This thesis investigates the svataḥ -prāmā ṇ yam doctrine of the 7th century Indian philosopher Bhaṭṭ a Kumārila, based on an analysis of this doctrine as presented in the Bṛ ha ṭ - ṭ īkā and in the Śloka-vārttika. The original contribution of this thesis consists in a novel interpretation of Kumārila's claim which diverges from the interpretations of the classical Indian commentators as well as those of recent scholarship by John Taber and Dan Arnold. Rather than a phenomenological or Reidean epistemology, this research argues that Kumārila provides a normative epistemology. In contrast to the interpretation of Dan Arnold, which roots justification and truth in the phenomenological fact of mere awareness which is undefeated, it is argued here that Kumārila articulates a normative process which mandates the believer to strengthen her beliefs through a purposive and goal-oriented process. The thesis begins with a consideration of the notion of svabhāva, to which Kumārila appeals, making a dispositional essentialist reading of this term, as a real causal power or disposition which is the essence of an entity conditional on iii its existence. It is then argued that Kumārila's claim concerns the manifestation of a competence. The operational dichotomy between pramāṇ a and non-pramāṇ a is compared to that between Good and Bad Cases in epistemological disjunctivism. It is shown that Kumārila articulates a belief protocol by analogy with normative processes in generative grammar and in legal and ritual interpretation. An anti- foundationalist defence of this protocol and its applicability to the case of beliefs formed from Vedic testimony is provided. It is suggested that Kumārila's claim engages more closely with Sosa's notion of aptness than with any notion of justification. iv Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction.........................................................................1 Section 1: Acknowledgements and sources..............................................1 Section 2: Introducing the research topic.................................................3 Section 3: Intellectual and social context.................................................5 Section 4: Situating the research..........................................................10 Section 5: Methodological approach.......................................................13 Section 6: Use of terminology...............................................................18 Section 7: Thesis Summary..................................................................21 Chapter 2: Kumārila's dispositional essentialism.................................29 Section 1: Introduction........................................................................29 Section 2: Powers and properties in the classical Indian context................31 Subsection 1: Svabhāva as a property...............................................32 Subsection 2: Svabhāva as a power...................................................36 Subsection 3: Summary...................................................................38 Section 3: Powers and properties in the contemporary context..................40 Section 4: A debate about natural necessity...........................................46 Section 5: Reductionism about properties..............................................55 Subsection 1: Reductionism and anti-realism......................................56 v Subsection 2: Disposition as default nature........................................62 Section 6: Dharmakīrti and bare dispositions..........................................66 Section 7: Kumārila's notion of svabhāva...............................................72 Chapter 3: Kumārila's disjunctive epistemology..................................77 Section 1: Introduction........................................................................77 Section 2: Knowledge and its value.......................................................78 Section 3: Terminological issues in the existing literature.........................81 Subsection 1: Pramāṇ a as instrument or outcome...............................85 Subsection 2: Prāmāṇ yam as instrumentality or as outcome.................89 Subsection 3: Svataḥ as intrinsic.......................................................93 Section 4: Kumārila's disjunction between pramāṇ a and non-pramā ṇ a.......98 Subsection 1: Good and Bad Cases....................................................99 Subsection 2: Reflective indiscriminability.........................................106 Section 5: Kumārila's notion of 'from itself'...........................................112 Subsection 1: Kumārila's four possible views.....................................113 Subsection 2: Deliverances must possess a svabhāva.........................116 Subsection 3: An epistemic capacity must be restricted to deliverances 117 Subsection 4: Obstruction of capacity...............................................125 Section 6: Kumārila as Virtue Epistemologist........................................133 Chapter 4: Kumārila's belief protocol................................................139 Section 1: Introduction......................................................................139 Section 2: Apparent truth or ascribed truth?.........................................141 Subsection 1: The Pārthasārathi-Arnold line of interpretation..............141 vi Subsection 2: Drawbacks of the Pārthasārathi-Arnold interpretation.....148 Subsection 3: Towards a re-evaluation of the Pārthasārathi-Arnold interpretation................................................................................153 Section 3: The grammatical and ritual origins of Kumārila's terminology...156 Subsection 1: 'General operation' and 'replacement operation'............159 Subsection 2: More on exceptions....................................................164 Subsection 3: 'Exhortation'.............................................................165 Subsection 4: 'Conflict'...................................................................166 Section 4: Kumārila's logic of inquiry...................................................171 Section 5: The instigating of inquiry....................................................173 Section 6: The prolonging of inquiry....................................................179 Section 7: Metarules for prolonging inquiry...........................................198 Section 8: The terminating of inquiry...................................................203 Chapter 5: Kumārila's anti-foundationalism......................................209 Section 1: Introduction......................................................................209 Section 2: Existing literature on Kumārila's anti-foundationalism.............210 Section 3: Kumārila's argument against organon justification..................215 Section 4: Kumārila's opposition to Buddhist foundationalism..................226 Section 5: Kumārila's anti-foundationalist defence of the Veda................237 Chapter 6: Conclusion.......................................................................242 Section 1: Summary of findings..........................................................242 Section 2: Suggestions for future research...........................................246 Abbreviations....................................................................................247 vii Bibliography......................................................................................249 Appendix 1: Transliterated Bṛ ha ṭ - ṭ īkā text extract.............................267 Appendix 2: Translated Bṛ ha ṭ - ṭ īkā text extract (with transliteration in brackets)...........................................................................................273 Glossary of key terms........................................................................284 Index versorum.................................................................................287 1 Chapter 1: Introduction Section 1: Acknowledgements and sources I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Prof. Jonardon Ganeri for his skilful guidance through the course of