Vaisheshika

Vaisheshika is an orthodox Hindu philosophical school that explains reality through categories, including substance, quality, motion, universality, particularity, and inherence. It is especially known for its account of enduring, indivisible atoms.

Padārtha: A basic category of reality or object of knowledge in Indian philosophy. Vaisheshika organizes reality into padārthas, the categories through which things can be known.
Paramāṇu: An indivisible, eternal atom in classical Indian theories of matter. Vaisheshika explains material objects as composites formed from these ultimate particles.
Kaṇāda: The ancient sage traditionally credited with founding the Vaisheshika school. Vaisheshika’s foundational aphorisms are attributed to him.
Buddhist atomism: Buddhist theories that analyze material experience into momentary, indivisible particles. Unlike Vaisheshika, Buddhist atomist accounts generally reject enduring substances.
Pramāṇa: A reliable means of knowledge in Indian philosophy, such as perception or inference. Vaisheshika uses perception and inference to establish claims about entities beyond immediate observation.
Dravya: Substance: an enduring bearer of qualities and actions in Indian philosophical systems. Vaisheshika treats substance as the foundation in which qualities and motion inhere.
Samavāya: Inherence, an intimate relation connecting inseparable entities such as a whole and its parts. This relation links substances to qualities and wholes to their constituent parts.
Vaiśeṣika Sūtra: The foundational aphoristic text of the Vaisheshika philosophical school. Its compact statements set out the school’s categories, metaphysics, and path to liberation.
Sāṃkhya: An Indian philosophical school that explains experience through consciousness and primordial material nature. Its two fundamental realities differ sharply from Vaisheshika’s many substances and categories.
Inference: Reasoning from evidence or premises to a conclusion. Inference lets Vaisheshika argue for atoms and other imperceptible entities from observed effects.

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