50. Akṣapāda Gautama: Nyāya-sūtra - Pakṣilasvāmin Vātsyāyana and Uddyotakara: Commentaries on the Nyāya-sūtra
A Sourcebook in Global Philosophy - Mohammed Rustom
Matthew R. Dasti [+]
Bridgewater State University
Matthew R. Dasti is Professor of Philosophy, Bridgewater State University.
Stephen Phillips [+]
University of Texas at Austin
Stephen Phillips is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, University of Texas at Austin.
Description
The Nyāya school is one of the leading traditions of philosophy in classical India. Its early theological reflections are found in the form of commentaries on a portion of its root text, the Nyāya-sūtra (c. 200 CE), by the pioneering thinkers Vātsyāyana (c. 425 CE) and Uddyotakara (c. 550 CE). Vātsyāyana articulates a skeletal notion of a universal creator, akin to the God of natural theology, who also oversees the karmic justice of the creation. Uddyotakara offers a number of proofs for the existence of such a God, focused on the need for intelligent, agential creation behind the structure of the world. These are best understood as arguments from design in a decidedly Hindu context.