Sāñkhya philosophy described prakṛti or nature in terms of three qualities called sattva, rajas, and tamas, which constitute three logical opposites. Since everyone finds it hard to visualize ternary opposites, therefore, the same three qualities are also described in terms of binary opposites. Below is one way to describe them […]
Logic / Philosophy
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The Paradigm of Face and Mask
The Nature of First-Order Logic What most people call logic is technically called first-order logic. The nomenclature suggests that there must be second-, third-, fourth-, and infinite other higher-order logics. Most people are unaware of these higher-order logics because they violate the three principles of first-order logic—(a) the law of […]
Linguistics
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The Vedic Philosophy of Language
The Six Systems Known as Upaveda It may surprise many people to know that the Vedic tradition never created dictionaries or rules of grammar. However, since time immemorial, there are six systems of study, collectively called Vedāṅga (and sometimes Upaveda), that include Nirukta and Vyākaraṇa, which are erroneously translated as […]
Logic / Philosophy
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The Inseparability of Epistemology, Ontology, and Logic
The Effect of Western Dualisms Since Greek times, Western philosophy has separated subjects from each other. These include epistemology (how we know), ontology (what exists), and logic (relations between propositions). The separation relies on two dualisms. First, the dualism of mind and body in which epistemology pertains to the mind […]
Physics
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Quantum Objects as Meaningful Symbols
Abstract This paper illustrates, through examples[1], how quantum theory can be seen as a theory of symbols. Ordinary signs have classical properties but not meaning; we interpret their physical properties as meanings. This is because the signs are described physically. If, however, space-time is interpreted as a domain of types […]
Physics
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Choices in General Relativity
Abstract While it is well-known that general relativity allows degenerate solutions to the field equations, it is believed that this indeterminism does not have experimental consequences. In this article I argue to the contrary: that current ways of thinking about matter distributions miss one important kind of distribution in which […]
Philosophy / Physics
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What is Einstein’s Theory of Relativity?
Classical vs. Modern Space and Time Newtonian mechanics came out of a separation of space, time, and matter, which had not existed in European thinking previously. Early Greeks spoke of four substances called Earth, Water, Fire, and Air and did not recognize space and time as categories separate from substances. […]
History
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Cultural Assumptions in European Science
The Problem of Simplicity and Complexity All the fundamental differences between European science and the Vedic system can be traced back to an assumption about simplicity in European thinking. Factually, ordinary sense perception is immensely complex. Food, for instance, has taste, smell, color, taste, texture, shape, weight, hardness, and so […]