How to Distinguish between Non-existing Entities? Dharmakīrti and Prajñākaragupta on Universals as Objects of Knowledge

Abstract

The paper concerns the very beginning of the chapter on perception in Dharmakīrti’s Pramāṇavārttika. It focuses on an apparent contradiction in Dignāga’s and Dhamrakīrti’s epistemology, namely, that universals do not exist and yet aare considered to be objects of valid inferences. Thus, universals have to be distinguished from other non-existing entities, such as objects of illusions. The paper elucidates Dharmakīrti’s theory with the help of his great commentator Prajñākaragupta.