Gotama, a Hindoo philosopher, the exact time of whose life is not known. The Indians consider him as the author of the philosophical system which, under the name of Nyaya (logic), is still in use among them. All we know of him is derived from the mj'thical tra- dition contained in the Pamayana and the P/iranas. According to this legend, Gotama was born in !Mount Himalaya, and for a long time lived as a hermit in the woods ; he then married Ahalya, one of the daugh- ters of Brahma, but subsequently divorced her for having been led astray by Indra. He spent the re- mainder of his life in prayer and ascetic practices, and when he died he left his disciples precepts which they commented on, and which together form the Xynya. The work in wliich his system is expounded has been published, for the use of the Indian schools, under the title Nyaya sutra vritii {The logical Aphorisms of Go- tama^, with a Commentary by Yish vanath Battacharya, published under the authority of the Committee of Public Instruction, Calcutta, 1828, 8vo. The book is
GOTAMA
942
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE
divided into five parts : the first and most important contains the doi;niatic exposition of the doctrine of the Nyiuj I. Tlie author proceeds by axioms, of which there are sixty in his first part. He distinguishes six- teen points in tlie art of reasoning, the first nine teach- ing to demonstrate truth, and the seven others to de- fend it against objections. He begins by pointing out the general sources of certainty, of wliich he recog- nises four: perception, induction, comparison, and di- vine or human testimony. He next inquires into tlie objects of certainty, i. e. the objects presented to hu- man investigation, and recognises twelve. Each of these objects can be considered in different ways, and the}' can all be brought down to one — the knowledge of man and of his destin}'. After having thus estab- lished his general dialectic principles, Gotama proceeds to their application. His third point is doubt : when anything has been presented to our knowledge by one of "the above-named sources of certainty, we must first doubt it, and only affirm its truth after thorough in- vestigation. Affirmation is the fourth point. After a thing is affirmed it has yet to be proved, and first of all exemplified : this forms the fifth point. When once the illustrative example is found, the object of the demonstration has to be stated : this is the sixth point. Tlie seventh is the enumeration of the five members of the demonstration. Colebrooke gives the following illustration of this process of argumentation, in which some think they recognise Greek syllogism : 1. 2n-0]}0skiim, This mountain is burning; 2. reason, for it smokes ; 3. explanation., whatever smokes is burning, as, for instance, a kitchen fire ; 4. application, and the mountain smokes ; 5. conclusion, hence it is burning. The eighth point, which is called reductio ad ahsvi-dum by Colebrooke, and raisonnement suppletif by Barthe- lemj' Saint-Hilaire^ is a sort of confirmation of the ar- gument. Finally, the ninth point is the definitive conclusion, tlie absolute affirmation which closes the argument. The last seven points treat of all the ob- jections which can be opposed to a demonstrated fact. These objections are sophisms, and he who uses them will necessarily be overcome by his opponent if the latter follows strictly the rules laid down in tlie Nyaya. As for the defender of truth, Gotama promises him not only the pleasure of defeating his adversary, but also everlasting happiness. This brief account of the first part of the Nijaya will suffice to show how inadequate the system of tlie Indian pliilosopher is as an analysis of the operations of the human mind. Still there is much to be admired in the doctrine of the Nyaya. The method was an immense progress for India, and as such deserves a high place in the history of philoso- phy. It would deserve a still higher one if it had, as was advanced by Sir 'WiUiam Jones, served as a model for the Organon, and if the fifth point of Gotama had been the origin of Aristotle's syllogism. Jones main- tained, on the strength of a more than doubtful tradi- tion, that Callisthenes gathered during Alexander's expedition a number of details on Indian doctrines, and afterwards transmitted them to Aristotle. Ac- cording to him the logic of tiic latter would be but a development of Gotama's system. Tliis strange asser- tion is completely disproved by Barthelemy Saint-Hi- laire, wlio has shown that there is no relation between the Xyayn and the Organon, and that those who spoke of their resemblance must have been unacquainted with either. His conclusion is that the Greek system owed nothing to the Indian. But might not the ques- tion be reversed so as to inquire whether the Indian system maj' not to some extent Vie derived from the Greek ? (ireek civilization hovered for centuries near the Indus and Himalaya. The Greek kingdoms of Bactria appear to have exerted great influence over the poetry of India : may they not also have h.ad some influence over its pliilosophical systems? And may not the Nyaya in particular, which difl^ers'so much in its analytical process from the other Indian system,
owe its peculiarities to the influence of Greece ? These are questions which it has so far been impossiljle to solve, since none has yet been able to find out the dates of the various Indian systems. Barthelemy Saint-IIilaire believes the Nyaya older than the Orga- non, but admits that it is only authentically named ia works posterior to the Christian fera. See Sir William Jones, Asiat. Research. ; Ward, Vieio of the History, Liter- ature, and Mythology of the Hindoos ; Colebrooke, in the Transact, of the A s. Soc. ofGt. Britain and Ireland, 1823, i, 7G, and Miscel. Essays, vol. i ; Windischmann, Die Philoso2>hie, im Fortgang d. Weltgesch, pt. i, p. 1904 ; Bar- thelemy Saint-Hilaire, in the 3fem. VAcademie des Sci- ences morales et polifiques, iii, 241 ; Journ. des Savants, April and June, 1855 ; Diet, des Sciences philosojjh. art. Gotama, Nyaya, Philosophie indienne ; Bitter, Gesch. der Philosophie ; Hoefer, Nutiv. Eiog. Gen. xxi, 336 ; Bi- gandet (Kom. Cath. bishop), The Life or Legend ofGau- dama (Rangoon, 1860, 8vo).