ABSTRACT

Handbooks of the Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika system frequently set forth as a kind of motto the phrase astitvaṃ jñeyatvam abhidheyatvam, that is, “to be is to be knowable and nameable”. The phrase apparently goes back to Praśastapāda and perhaps before, but the purpose of this paper is not to reconstruct its history but rather to explore its implications for the Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika system.