One of the parts of an accepted form of inference in Indian philosophy (anumana).
An inference is made up of three parts: an assertion (pratijna), a reason (hetu), and an example (drshtanta); each of these three has its own set of constituent parts.
The vipaksha is a negative example given to show that the
claim made in the initial assertion reflects the action of specific causes.
It is part of the third term, examples.
For instance, in the inference "there is fire on the
mountain because there is smoke on the mountain," the vipaksha could be
"unlike a lake," because lakes do not have fire or smoke, indicating
that these conditions are not universally present (fire is found in mountains,
but not in lakes).
An inference, by convention, had to include a positive
example, the sapaksha, to demonstrate that similar events occurred in similar
circumstances (i.e., that there were other cases in which there was both fire
and smoke).
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