Ontological Categories in Early Indian Philosophy

This paper will address the question whether and to what extent the ontological categories of early Indian philosophies can be looked upon as what might be called ‘natural categories’, categories that correspond in some way to the reality they intend to describe. It turns out that some of the Indian categories are of this kind, others are not. Examples will be discussed.

Part of the Shivdasani Conference 2009: Thinking Inside the Box - The Concept of a Category in Indian Philosophy