Vaiseshika - ancient Indian atomic theory (believe, scientific, debate, Christ)

[Travelling fella]

This ancient Indian school of thought developed a complex atomic theory

ATOMISM

All compounded objects are divisible into small parts and the latter are divisible into still smaller parts. By this logic we have to accept the minutest particle of matter, which cannot be divided further. This indivisible, part less and eternal particle of matter is the paramAnu or atom. Things are produced by the coming together of atoms. Creation is just the combination of atoms, while destruction is the dissolution of such combinations. But the atoms themselves are neither produced nor destroyed. They are eternal.

For those who like to read things of phillosophic nature I thought this article would be interesting, specially because it's amazing how thousands of years before Christ, there were civilizations that developed a complex atomic theory, this school of thought led to Nyaya later on, which will be adressed in a further post but if you are curious check Nyaya Sutras, Nyaya has an striking resemblance to today's scientific method.

Before starting I'd like to make a clarification, when the fundamental principles behind matter (Tattvas) are mentioned as fire, earth, water air and ether, what this really means is:

Air All that is gaseous. So, it is not only the ordinary "air".
Fire All that contains heat and color. So, it is not only the ordinary "fire".
Water All that is liquid. So, it is not only the ordinary "water".
Earth All that is solid. So, it is not only the ordinary "earth".

That said, hope you enjoy the article, it'd be interesting if we shared our thoughts about it in this thread

Vaiseshika - ancient Indian atomic spiritualism

Diversity is the essence of the experiential world. No thing is the same and each thing has its own particularity, which differentiates it from the rest. Thus this system, which gives an objective classification of the world based on its particulars, derives its name from the word 'visesha' or particularity.

[ParkTwain]

Why do you state "thousands of years before Christ"? This paper states (p. 29) that this philosophy of matter was developed between the 10th and 7th c B.C.

http://www.new.dli.ernet.in/rawdatau...0005af0_22.pdf

This is an interesting historical intellectual development. What is interesting about it to me would be to find what was the philosopher's reasoning that led to an atomistic explanation. Anyone can imagine an atom-based basis for the physical universe (there are only 2 or 3 basic or "naive" theories of matter that are coherent), but the basis for the theory in fact (such as by some form of examination of nature, including by some form of "experiment") as discovered by the philosopher at such an early date (relative to the Greeks) is of interest.

[Travelling fella]

Originally Posted by ParkTwain

Why do you state "thousands of years before Christ"? This paper states (p. 29) that this philosophy of matter was developed between the 10th and 7th c B.C.

This paper states that, but the date of the origin of this school is unkown and debated, some believe it is as old as the vedas, which are about 8,000 years old, but this is debated too.

This is an interesting philosophy of matter. What is interesting about it to me would be to find what was the philosopher's reasoning that led to the atomistic explanation.

I don't know who made the translation from Bhutas to atoms, but most people of contemporary times who are well versed into vaisheshika regard them as such, I believe it is because Atom in greek means indivisible and it was considered the most basic particle of the universe, and the Bhutas are indivisible and the most basic particle of the universe (according to vaisheshika) too.

Anyone can imagine an atom-based basis for the physical universe (there are only 2 or 3 basic or "naive" theories of matter that are coherent), but the basis for the theory in fact (such as by some form of examination of nature, including by some form of "experiment") as discovered by the philosopher at such an early date (relative to the Greeks) is of interest.

And wait until your see Nyaya, which is the refinement of Vaisheshika, some people debate about this, but I get the feeling that Nyaya led to Samkhya and Samkhya to Yoga, although some people believe that it was the opposite way but we'll leave that after more dialogue on this subject is made.