A Splash of the Logical Reason

This volume provides the first modern translation of the recently found original Sanskrit text of Dharmakīrti’s Hetubindu (ca. 600 CE), the first Indian work of pure logic. The concise definitions and explanations of the central terms are enriched by several extensive digressions, such as on the pervasion (vyāpti) in the proof of momentariness of entities, with his conceptions of causality, and on the nature of non-perception or negative cognition (anupalabdhi), as well as by the supplement of a refutation of Īśvarasena’s theorem of six characteristics for a logical reason (ṣallakṣaṇahetu). The translation aims at making the content available to specialists in Indian epistemology and also to philosophers and logicians in general who have no knowledge of classical Sanskrit. It is provided with a short introduction and a detailed structural outline.