Why is the Sky blue in color? Why don’t animals speak? Why do plants grow? These are some curious questions that every child tends to ask their parents at home or teachers at school. We, as parents and teachers are happy, although we may smile inwardly at the way these questions are phrased, we answer them with all the clarity and honesty that we can muster, as we recognize the importance of such questions to the child’s developing ability to notice, to understand and to reason. Their ability to notice what’s happening in the world around them is a key element in the development of their good thinking skills that they need to become successful learners.
Learning to think critically and logically, analyzing content, and evaluating their importance are most important skills that today’s children need for the future and perhaps it’s for the same reason these skills are highlighted in our NEP 2020 as basic qualities to be developed in a student and are enforcing schools to implement them through different methodologies. But how many of us really know that these qualities were developed, nurtured and thought through several years and they were a part of our Vedic Educational system. Through this article, I am striving to promote our Indian Vedic educational system. Many of its shastras has delivered the best educational methodologies and pedagogies, which can be explored and used as the best tools to support the Modern Educational System. In this article, I am trying to portray one such sashtra called TARKA SHASTRA, wherein the steps or components of the book if adopted to present educational system, can profoundly help the present generation to develop critical thinking, analytical skills and debating capabilities.
As per ancient philosophy, there are four important shastras. One among them is TARKA. Tarka sastra is a Sanskrit term for the philosophy of dialects, logic, reasoning, and art of debate that analyzes the nature and source of knowledge and its validity. Its basically known as Science which drives us to the reality of a concept.
By imbibing the above steps /concepts to any problem we can make students think critically and help them to infer better results. The below explanation helps to understand the concepts of TARKASHASTRA better.
Suppose a student encounters a problem. His/her solution to the problem should start with a:
- DOUBT: Is the problem TRUE / FALSE
- PRATHYAKSHA: To solve the doubt, the Problem should be perceived (looked) with the Data available in reality
- ANUMANA: With the knowledge he/she gains from the Data he/she needs to establish the relation between the data and the problem and should further infer or analyze
- VYAPTHI: When he/she infers the relationship with the available data and when there is no inconsistency of data and in its relationship and when there is existence of co-relation in the inference, he/she needs to conclude the result. To clarify Vyapthi further, it means that he/she needs to analyze the data to find out every possibility of co-relation or co-existence among the data to conclude the results
- HETVABHASHA: The final concept of TARKASHASTRA says that to justify our conclusions/inferences we need to see that we have not made any fault or missed any data to analyze
HOW THESE COMPONENTS HELP TO DEVELOP CRITICAL THINKING/LOGICAL DEVELOPMENT
All these concepts helps us evaluate and analyze a particular problem logically.
The validity of every argument is checked through the four means of knowledge in TARKA (Perception, inference, analogy, verbal testimony) because of which subjective bias is rejected. By implementing the concepts of Tarka shastra, there is a thorough investigation of information through the means of questioning to understand Vyapti (Cause and effectIive relationship) between two components. This shows how India encourages thorough thinking and rationalism which helps to develop intellectual capacity. Tarka Shastra encourages students to not accept any statement as valid without extensive proof and reach a conclusion only after thorough discussion that is not hasty. Because of this, students develop analyzing capacity and their intelligence is refined. By implementing the concepts of TARKA SHASTRA, students will know to question the truth and trace out the falsehood of knowledge, they develop the ‘Viveka’ to correct and modify their knowledge pool whenever needed.
The concepts of Tarka shastra throws light on the current quality of education and absence of innovation. With regards to Indian Logic, the findings indicate that its scope in academics pertains to encouraging alternative patterns of thinking, providing a structured tool of reasoning, equipping students with skills of debate and discussion and providing a degree of proficiency over oratory skills thus bridging the gap between existing concepts of logic and its teaching in classroom. The concepts of TARKA may have an impact on the students’ capacities to think creatively. In addition, conceptual understanding and its application in varied settings is something that is always encouraged in TARKA. TARKA concepts incorporates the use of mechanisms of rigorous and cognizant reasoning that is similar to the concept of critical thinking. Indian logic encourages development of the nature of rationality and provides methods of critical inquiry.
Thus, I would like to conclude this article stressing the priority to study Indian Logic / TARKA shastra or imbibe its core concepts into our educational system since its purpose is to equip individuals with the skill of rational thinking and lead to conclusion after looking at the proofs available. This shastra encourages individuals to examine their decisions and their beliefs by addressing them with proper reasoning which can be considered as a component of critical thinking. When a person engages in critical thinking, they have to consider all the alternatives and then evaluate them fairly before finally making a choice. Using the concepts of TARKA SHASTRA in a systematic way means to provide a clear standard and allow an individual to present ideas in a structured as well as organized manner. Thus, inclusion of Indian Logic / TARKA SHASTRA, in Indian Education, plays an essential role for instilling in students the capacity to examine objects of knowledge on the basis of evidences eventually enhancing their logical,critical thinking or analyzing skills.
References:
- Exploring the possibilities of incorporating Indian logic in modern academia by Anwesha Bhattacharya and Sudharshan Hebban
- Tarkashastra – Wikepedia.