Metaphysics: Reality, Being and Causality
Metaphysics asks what is real, what it means to be, and how causes produce effects. The exam tests distinctions such as appearance and reality, one and many, and the Indian causal theories.
Core rules and concepts
- Ontology studies being and categories; cosmology studies the origin and structure of the world.
- Monism holds one ultimate reality; dualism two; pluralism many. Advaita Vedanta is monist; Samkhya is dualist with purusha and prakriti; Vaisheshika is pluralist about categories.
- Causality links cause and effect. A necessary condition must be present; a sufficient condition guarantees the effect.
- Satkaryavada (Samkhya) says the effect pre-exists in the cause; asatkaryavada (Nyaya-Vaisheshika) says the effect is newly produced; vivartavada (Advaita) says change is apparent superimposition on Brahman; Buddhism's pratityasamutpada says things arise dependently, without a first cause.
Worked example
A clay pot: satkaryavada argues the pot is not a new substance but a transformation of clay, so the effect exists in potential. Asatkaryavada replies that a pot has a new arrangement and new capacities, so it is a genuine product. Vivartavada would say clay alone is ultimately real and 'pot' is a name and form. The reasoning must specify which sense of 'exist' each theory uses.
Traps
Do not equate cause with occasion. Do not say Advaita denies the world's practical reality; it denies ultimate independence. Do not merge satkaryavada with asatkaryavada. Marks are lost for naming a theory without stating its causal claim.