Nyaya

Founder

Maharshi Gautama (Akshapada)

Era

c. 2nd century BCE

Central thesis

Liberation arises only from correct knowledge of reality, and correct knowledge requires a tested method of valid reasoning. Nyaya supplies the formal toolkit — definitions of inference, fallacy, perception, and debate — that all other Hindu schools borrow. Suffering is rooted in mithyajnana (false cognition), and is dispelled by tattva-jnana arrived at through disciplined logic.

Key texts

Nyaya Sutras of Gautama
Nyaya Bhashya of Vatsyayana
Nyaya Vartika of Uddyotakara
Tattva-cintamani of Gangesha (Navya-Nyaya)

Pramana (accepted means of valid knowledge)

Pratyaksha (perception)
Anumana (inference)
Upamana (comparison)
Shabda (verbal/scriptural testimony)

View of liberation (moksha)

Apavarga — the absolute cessation of suffering through clear discrimination of the eternal self from the body, mind, and senses, attained by knowledge of the sixteen padarthas.

Modern exponents

Bimal Krishna Matilal
Daya Krishna
J. N. Mohanty

Key concepts

Sixteen padarthas (categories of debate)
Five-membered syllogism (pratijna–hetu–udaharana–upanaya–nigamana)
Hetvabhasa (fallacies of reasoning)
Mithyajnana (false knowledge) as root of samsara
Ishvara as inferred efficient cause