The Nyaya-Vaisesika and the Buddhist Controversy on the Problem of Universals: Revisited

The term “universal” or “samanya” refers to a class idea or class essence in Nyaya-Vaisesika philosophy. It is referred to as the shared characteristic of objects of the same class. The samanya does not just refer to a class; it also refers to the shared traits of a group of people and excludes subclasses. It is the Universal, the quality that unites people of the same class. The goal of the current essay is to draw attention to the logical-epistemological disagreement between Nyaya and Buddhism about the concept of the Universal (samanya), as well as the way in which it is perceived and expressed verbally. First, I briefly outline the Nyaya-Vaisesika viewpoint on the idea of the Universal and how they define a thing as falling inside its purview. After that, I’ll make a concentrated postulation about the Buddhist perspective on the Universal (samanya), its nature, the denial of its ontological commitment, and the emergence of a new theory known as apohavada as a result of the denial of the Universal.