Savyabhicāra

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

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[1] Hetvābhāsas means invalid reasonings.

[2] Vyabhicāra is a technical term which means the absence of cause and effect relationship between two things.

[1]

[2]