Viparitakhyati

(“contrary discrimination”) Theory of
error propounded by the Mimamsa
philosopher Kumarila, who lived in the
seventh century C.E. All the theories of
error aim to explain why people make
errors in judgment, such as the stock
example of mistaking the silvery flash of
seashell for a piece of silver.
Like Prabhakara and the Naiyayikas, Kumarila believes that the simple judgments “that object is silvery”
and “silver is silvery” are both true
and indisputable. Kumarila also
agrees with the Naiyayika that the
error comes from a discrimination
that is contrary to reality. His difference with the Naiyayikas comes with
the latter’s postulation of the inherence-relationship as connecting subjects and predicates (“silver color”
and “silver”). Kumarila’s theory is
identity-and-difference (bhedabhada)
in which all things are what they are
and are not what they are not. Thus
the perception (pratyaksha) of the
shell on the beach would involve its
similarities and differences from silveriness, combined with silver’s similarities and differences from
silveriness. One can combine the similarities and get a false judgment, or
the differences and come up with a
true one. As in the Naiyayika theory of
error, the root cause for combining
the similarities rather than the differences comes from karmic dispositions
stemming from avidya, specifically
the greed for silver that prompts us to
look for such items of value. For further information see Bijayananda Kar,
755
Viparitakhyati
The Theories of Error in Indian Philosophy,
1978; and Karl H. Potter (ed.), Presuppositions of India’s Philosophies, 1972.