CAUSATION IN INDIAN PHILOSOPHY: AN OVERVIEW

Before we consider the theories accounting for the change and the difficulties involved in the concept, it will be worthwhile to know importance of the concept. The importance of the concept is twofold: Metaphysical and Logical. If we are able to account for the change, that will, to a very great extent, throw light on the natures Reality. Is all Reality intrinsically active, i.e., changing by itself, e.g., the Prakriti of Sankhyas, or is it intrinsically passive, as the atoms of Nyaya-Vaisesika, and acted upon by some other active agency? There are the questions which are intimately connected with the change, and thereof, with the concept of causation. If we are able to account for the change, we are, in fact, able to know the nature of Reality. Again, much of our inference is based on causation. The validity of inference depends, to a very great extent, on the validity of the law of causation. If we are able to establish some connection between two occurrences, we can infer and thus, predict that if one event occurs, the other will also occur. We can, thus, pass on from what has happened in the observed cases to what is likely to happen in cases which have not been observed.