Reflection: What Do You Trust?

Prompts to consider

• Dignāga says there are only two valid sources of knowledge: perception and inference. Think of three things you believe today, how much of what you know actually comes from direct perception, and how much from testimony you have never verified?
• The apoha theory says words work by exclusion, 'cow' means 'not-non-cow.' Does this feel like an odd or a surprisingly accurate description of how you actually use language? Can you find an example where exclusion captures meaning better than positive definition?
• Dharmakīrti insists that even religious scripture must answer to perception and inference. What does it mean to apply the same standard of evidence to spiritual claims as to scientific ones? Is that liberating, reductive, or both?