Dialectical terms (20): Defective statement (vākyadoṣa)

Defective statement (vākyadoṣa) is the imperfection of a statement due to

1. inadequacy (nyūna),
2. redundancy (adhika),
3. meaninglessness (anarthaka),
4. incoherence (apārthaka),
5. contradiction (viruddha).^[1]

1. inadequacy (nyūna):

Inadequacy means the lack of any one of the five members of the syllogism. Giving only one reason where it is necessary to give more reasons is also inadequacy. That is, when a statement has to be supported by a number of reasons, only one is offered and the others are omitted, substantially affecting the strength of support for the establishment of the thesis.^[2] This explanation is further confirmed by Akṣapāda and Vātsyāyana, who consider it as a division of nigrahasthāna.^[3]

(2) redundancy (adhika):

Redundancy is contradictory to inadequacy. It consists in referring to topics which are not relevant to discussion. If the opponent speaks of Bārhaspatya and Śukranīti in a context where Āyurveda is being debated, it is an instance of redundancy.

It also denotes needless repetition. This type of redundancy is of two types:

1. verbal repetition (śabdapunarukta),
2. Semantic repetition (artha- punarukta).

Verbal repetition is the repetition of words and semantic repetition is giving more than one synonym to denote one and the same meaning.^[4] Akṣapāda makes difference in this regard. He construes redundancy as the repetition of reason or an example cited in a syllogism.^[5] Moreover he considers the above-mentioned two divisions as two separate divisions of another nigrahasthāna called repetition (punarukta) and suggests that they become faults in places where they have no specific sense to convey.^[6]

3. meaninglessness (anarthaka):

The meaningless means a collection of letters with out anysignification.^[7] .It is called nirarthaka by Akṣapāda.^[8]

4. incoherence (apārthaka):

Incoherence is a combinations of words which do not convey aconnected meaning.^[9]

Example: “whey wheel thunder race morning”. Akṣapāda defines it as a statement which does not give a complete sense due to the lack of syntactical relation.^[10]

5. contradiction (viruddha):

A contradictory statement means making a statement which iscontradictory to the example (dṛṣṭāṇtavirudha), to the conclusion, to an established tenet (sidhāntavirudha), or to tradition (samayaviruddha).^[11]

The example of the first is the statement that fever produces heat as cold water produces heat and that of the second is a physician's statement that medicine does not cure diseases.

Contradiction of tradition (samayaviruddha) is the making of statements against the tenets of a particular śāstra. It is of three kinds:

1. contradictory statement against tenets of Āyurvedic tradition,
2. against the tenets of ritual tradition,
3. against tenets concerning liberation in spiritual tradition.

Thus, the assertion that a therapy has four constituents is a statement against the recognized tenet of Āyurveda. Similarly, the statement that animals should not be killed in rituals is contradictory to the established tenet of the ritual tradition and the statement regarding violence towards living beings is against the spiritual tradition.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

vākyadoṣo nāma yathā khalvasminnarthe nyūnaṃ, adhikaṃ, anarthakaṃ, apārthakaṃ, viruddhaṃ ceti; Ibid., 54.

[2]:

tatra nyūnaṃ - pratijñāhetūdāharaṇopanayanigamanānāmanyatamenāpi nyūnaṃ nyūnaṃ bhavati; yadvā bahūpadiṣṭahetukmekena hetunā sādhyate tacca nyūnaṃ, Ibid.

[3]:

hinamanyatamenāvayvena nyūnaṃ. Nyāyasūtra.,V. ii. 12; see also Vātsyāyana on ibid., Nyāya-Bhāṣya of Vātsyāyana., p. 454.

[4]:

CS, Vimāna - sthāna, VIII. 54.

[5]:

hetūdāharaṇamadhikamadhikaṃ. Nyāyasūtra., V. ii. 13.

[6]:

sabdārthayoḥ punarvacanaṃ punaruktamanytranuvādāt. Ibid., 14.

[7]:

anarthakaṃ nāma yadvacanamakṣaragrāmamātrameva syāt pañcavargavanna cārthato gṛhyate, CS, Vimāna - sthāna, VIII. 54.

[8]:

varnakramanirdeśavat nirarthakāṃ, Nyāyasūtra., V. ii. 8.

[9]:

apārthakaṃ nāma yadarthavacca paraspareṇāsaṃyujyamānārthakaṃ; CS,Vimāna - sthāna, VIII. 54.

[10]:

paurvāparyāyogādapratisaṃbaddhārthamapārthakaṃ, Nyāyasūtra., I. ii. 10.

[11]:

viruddhaṃ nāma yaddṛṣṭāntasiddhāntasamayairviruddhaṃ; CS, Vimāna-sthāna, VIII. 54.