Non-Western and Comparative Philosophy Study Guide

Vocabulary flashcards defining fundamental concepts, philosophical terminology, and core technical terms across Indian, Chinese, Islamic, and African philosophical traditions.

Pramāṇa

A valid source or means of acquiring genuine knowledge in Indian philosophy (such as perception, inference, analogy, or testimony).

Pratyakṣa

Perception; knowledge produced by direct contact between a sense faculty and an object.

Anumāna

Inference; step-by-step knowledge derived from perceiving a mark or sign (liṅga) and applying a known universal relation (vyāpti).

Upamāna

Analogy or comparison; gaining knowledge of an unfamiliar object through its similarity to something already known.

Śabda

Verbal testimony; knowledge gained through the spoken or written words of a trustworthy authority (āpta).

Vyāpti

Invariable concomitance; the universal, unconditioned relationship linking an inferential mark to what it proves (e.g., "wherever there is smoke, there is fire").

Dukkha

Suffering, impermanence, or unsatisfactoriness; the first Noble Truth in Buddhism.

Taṇhā

Craving, attachment, or selfish desire; the root cause of suffering (dukkha).

Nirvāṇa

Liberation or unbinding; the cessation of greed, hatred, delusion, and the cycle of rebirth (saṃsāra).

Saṃsāra

The continuous cycle of death and rebirth driven by karma and ignorance.

Five aggregates (Skandhas)

The five composite factors making up human existence: material form (rūpa), feeling (vedanā), perception (saññā), mental formations (saṅkhāra), and consciousness (viññāṇa).

Karma

Moral action and its inevitable consequences shaping future rebirths and experiences.

Pratītyasamutpāda

Dependent origination; the foundational Buddhist principle that all phenomena arise in dependence upon causes and conditions.

Svabhāva

Own-being, inherent existence, or essential nature.

Śūnyatā

Emptiness; the lack of inherent, independent existence (svabhāva) in all things.

The two truths

Conventional truth (saṃvṛti-satya)—how things function conceptually and pragmatically—and ultimate truth (paramārtha-satya)—that all phenomena are empty of inherent existence.

Tetralemma (Catuṣkoṭi)

The logical structure evaluating four possibilities: a thing is X, not X, both X and not X, or neither X nor not X.

Ālaya-vijñāna

Storehouse consciousness; the foundational consciousness in Yogācāra Buddhism that stores karmic seeds (bījas).

Manas

The reflecting mental consciousness that continuously projects a false sense of an independent self (ātman) onto the storehouse consciousness.

Vijñapti-mātra

Consciousness-only or perception-only; the Yogācāra view that all experienced objects are transformations of consciousness.

Three natures (Trisvabhāva)

Yogācāra's model of reality: the constructed nature (parikalpita), the dependent nature (paratantra), and the fulfilled/ultimate nature (pariniṣpanna).

Ren

Humaneness, benevolence, or goodness; the cardinal virtue in Confucianism.

Li

Ritual propriety, ritual codes, or moral etiquette that structures harmonious society.

Xiao

Filial piety; devotion, respect, and service to one's parents and ancestors.

Junzi

The exemplary person or moral gentleman in Confucianism.

Rectification of names (Zhengming)

The doctrine that language and social titles must correspond to actual behavior and responsibilities (e.g., let a ruler act like a ruler).

Dao

The Way; the ultimate cosmic, natural, or moral path.

De

Virtue, moral potency, or inner power.

Wuwei

Effortless action or non-action; acting naturally without artificial force or self-centered striving.

Ziran

Naturalness, spontaneity, or being "so of itself".

Uncarved block (Pu)

The state of pristine simplicity and uncorrupted natural potential prior to social conditioning.

Shi

Situational potential, strategic force, or circumstantial leverage.

Ming

Fate, destiny, or the mandate of Heaven (Tianming).

Tian

Heaven; the supreme cosmic order or divine authority in Chinese thought.

Yi

Righteousness, moral duty, or doing what is contextually appropriate.

Syllogism

A formal logical argument where a conclusion is deduced from two given premises (central to Ibn Rushd's demonstration).

Rhetorical, dialectical, demonstrative

The three modes of argument in Islamic philosophy; demonstrative reasoning provides absolute proof for trained philosophers, while rhetorical and dialectical modes suit broader audiences.

First perfection

The essential primary form or actualization of an organic body/soul (in Avicenna / Ibn Sīnā).

Floating man

Ibn Sīnā's thought experiment proving the soul/self is distinct from the physical body, as a suspended man stripped of all sensory input would still be aware of his existence.

Minimal personhood

The basic status of being a human individual at birth before moral or social integration.

Maximal personhood

Kwasi Wiredu and Menkiti's African communitarian concept that true personhood is not inherent at birth but earned over time through moral excellence, community participation, and rituals.

Śeṣavat inference

An inference from effect to cause according to Nyāya epistemology (such as inferring rain upstream upon observing a swollen river).