Antithetical Reason ( सत्प्रतिपक्ष हेतु )

Antithetical reasoning can be best illustrated by the following argument:

'Sound is eternal because it is audible, like soundness'.

The thing to be proved, in the above argument is 'eternality'. It is proved by the audible nature of it. The positive example cited is soundness, where audibility and eternality coexist. Apparently there is no flaw in this.

Consider another argument

  'Sound is non-eternal because it is produced, like a pot'.

In this, the thing to be proved is non-eternality, the reason is producibility, and the example cited is pot. So this also seems to be a correct argument. But one counters the other. So both can't be correct.  Such a reasoning is called antithetical reasoning.

 

Examples

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