The proposition—'all things are non-eternal, because they are knowable' is…
2022
The proposition—'all things are non-eternal, because they are knowable' is fallacious because
Answer: A. The middle term is non-exclusive. — CONCEPTIn Nyāya inference, the middle term (hetu) must support a testable invariable relation (vyāpti) with the property to be proved. A non-exclusive…
- A.
The middle term is non-exclusive.
- B.
The middle term is too narrow.
- C.
The middle term is too wide.
- D.
It involves a contradictory middle term.
Attempted by 2 students.
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Correct answer: A
CONCEPT
In Nyāya inference, the middle term (hetu) must support a testable invariable relation (vyāpti) with the property to be proved. A non-exclusive (anupasaṃhāri) middle term occurs when the subject is all-inclusive, so no independent similar or dissimilar cases remain for testing that relation.
APPLICATION
Here the subject is ‘all things’, the property to be proved is ‘non-eternal’, and the middle term is ‘knowable’. Because ‘all things’ already exhausts the domain, there is no separate sapakṣa or vipakṣa through which the relation between knowability and non-eternality can be established. The middle term is therefore non-exclusive.
CONTRAST
A non-exclusive middle term accompanies an all-inclusive subject and leaves no independent comparison class.
A too-narrow middle term occurs only in the subject and in neither the similar nor the dissimilar cases.
A too-wide middle term occurs in both similar and dissimilar cases and therefore does not distinguish the property to be proved.
A contradictory middle term is invariably connected with the opposite of the property to be proved.
RESULT
Thus, the fallacy arises because the middle term is non-exclusive.