PDA

View Full Version : Proving Advaita by analysis of difference



wundermonk
06 May 2012, 02:01 PM
Hello everyone:

Post-Shankarite Advaitins engaged in lots of dialectics to establish monism.

One such set of dialectics relates to whether the notion of "difference" is valid.

Now, when we say that a book is different from a table, what is meant?

Is the notion of "difference" the very essence/property of the book? It cannot be because "difference", in this case, means "being distinguished from a table". This cannot be the book's essence/property because we are unable to define it without taking recourse to the table. Hence, the notion of "difference" cannot be a thing's essence/property.

What if "difference" is different from the things that differ? Then, the Advaitin asks, what is the relationship between "difference" and the book? If a relationship R is posited, the Advaitin further asks, what is the relationship between R and the book and so on leading to a vicious infinite regress.

There are more Advaitin arguments against difference and hopefully we can discuss them in this thread.