Indian philosophical schools give serious consideration to the questions of
how and why people make errors in
judgment. Although these schools may
cite seemingly mundane examples, such
as mistaking the silvery flash of a
seashell for a piece of silver, investigating judgment errors is ultimately rooted
in religious goals. Specifically, the religious goal is to gain true awareness of
the actual nature of things, and through
this to bring about final liberation of the
soul (moksha) from the karmic cycle of
reincarnation (samsara). Each school’s
answers to the question of truth and falsity reveal fundamental differences
about the understanding each has of the
inherent nature of things, which have
clear implications for bondage and liberation. Although the differing schools
disagree on the mechanics of “how” one
sees silver instead of a shell, there is general agreement about why such a mistake takes place. This and other errors
are rooted in the karmic predispositions
stemming from avidya, most specifically the greed that prompts human beings
to look for items of value. Far more
explanation can be found in the individual entries, but in brief there are six
major theories of error.
In the Prabhakara branch of the
Mimamsa school, the theory is akhyati or “nondiscrimination,” in which
the source of error is the inability to
make sharp distinctions. The theory
in the Naiyayika school is anyathakhyati, the “discrimination of
something else,” in which the mind
projects an erroneous perception
(pratyaksha) onto another object.
The Mimamsa philosopher Kumarila
explains error as viparitakhyati or
“contrary discrimination,” in which
the source of error is a bad assessment
of an object’s similarities and differences. The Samkhya school propounds the theory of sadasatkhyati,
or “discrimination of the unreal as the
real,” in which the source of error is
merely an extension of the original
error to distinguish between the two basic
realities, purusha and prakrti. Ramanuja,
founder of the Vishishthadvaita Vedanta
school, propounds the theory of satkhyati, “discrimination of the real,” in which
one correctly perceives the silvery flash,
but makes an incorrect assumption
based on this. The final theory of anirvachaniyakhyati or “indescribable discrimination,” is advanced by the
Advaita Vedanta school; according to
this, one illusory perception is superimposed on another conventionally true
but ultimately illusory perception. For
further information see Bijayananda
Kar, The Theories of Error in Indian
Philosophy, 1978; and Karl H. Potter
(ed.), Presuppositions of India’s
Philosophies, 1972.