Svataḥ Prāmāṇya and Disjunctivism: A Study in Typology

Abstract

The study presents the broad outlines for a relationalist interpretation of the Indian epistemological doctrine svataḥ prāmāṇya. Due to the inadequacy of the main western interpretations thereof, the paper’s approach can be considered an inference to the best explanation. Its main part is devoted to the typologization of various epistemological doctrines based on the svataḥ prāmāṇya principle in terms of strong and weak disjunctivism. Three paradigm cases of strong disjunctivism and a special variety of weak disjunctivism have thus been identified in Indian epistemology, which allowed to draw a conclusion that strong disjunctivism constituted one of its general paradigms