Philosopher
Kumārila Bhaṭṭa
fl. 640–680 CE
Also known as Kumarila Bhatta, Kumārila
Mīmāṃsā philosopher who argued that every cognition is to be trusted until overturned, and defended the authority of the Vedas against Buddhist critics.
It should be understood that all pramāṇas have the property of being pramāṇas intrinsically; for a capacity not already existing by itself (svataḥ) cannot be produced by anything else.
Kumārila Bhaṭṭa was active around 660 CE and ranks among the most influential figures in Indian philosophy. He is known almost entirely through traditional hagiography; his knowledge of Tamil word forms suggests he may have come from south India. He was one of the two great commentators of the Brahmanical school of Mīmāṃsā, whose followers were named Bhāṭṭas after him.
Mīmāṃsā’s task was to interpret the Vedas, and Kumārila defended their authority with arguments of wide philosophical reach: that ways of knowing are reliable in themselves, that language and its universals are eternal, and that we perceive the world directly. His criticisms of the Buddhist Dignāga shaped the work of Dharmakīrti, his contemporary, and he was a significant influence on Śaṅkara. Almost every later Indian philosopher had to engage with his views on knowledge and language.
Key ideas
- Intrinsic validity (svataḥ prāmāṇya)
- Ways of knowing must be accepted as reliable in themselves. If a cognition counted as knowledge only once another cognition had shown it reliable, that one would need checking too, and the regress would never end.
- Justified until overturned
- A cognition is justified simply by being a cognition, and we should give it up only when a specific contrary cognition overrides it. So it is falsification, not demonstration, that decides what we know.
- Direct realism
- Against Buddhists such as Dignāga and Dharmakīrti, Kumārila held that awareness is not reflexive and that we are aware of ordinary objects, not of mental images of them. We are generally justified in trusting awareness to show us the world.
- Eternal language and real universals
- Words refer to real, timeless universals, and language, like the Vedas, has no beginning. On this basis Kumārila argued that the authorless Vedas are uniquely authoritative on dharma, the duties they enjoin.
Influences
Kumārila Bhaṭṭafl. 640–680 CE
Influenced
Kumārila Bhaṭṭafl. 640–680 CE
Influenced
Where these links come from
- Dharmakīrti argued against Kumārila Bhaṭṭa. Source: Dan Arnold, Kumārila, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Śaṅkara drew on Kumārila Bhaṭṭa. Source: Dan Arnold, Kumārila, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Śāntarakṣita argued against Kumārila Bhaṭṭa. Source: James Blumenthal and James Apple, Śāntarakṣita, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Key works
- Critical Commentary in Verse (Ślokavārttika)
- Tantravārttika
Sources
- Dan Arnold, Kumārila, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy