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	<title>elisa freschiPermissions for Prabhākara &#8211; elisa freschi</title>
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	<link>https://elisafreschi.com</link>
	<description>These pages are a sort of virtual desktop of Elisa Freschi. You can find here my cv and some random thoughts on Sanskrit (and) Philosophy. All criticism welcome! Contributions are also welcome!</description>
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		<title>Permissions for Prabhākara</title>
		<link>https://elisafreschi.com/2021/10/09/permissions-for-prabhakara/</link>
		<comments>https://elisafreschi.com/2021/10/09/permissions-for-prabhakara/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 09 Oct 2021 20:49:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>elisa freschi</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[deontic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mīmāṃsā]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Prabhākara]]></category>
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				<description><![CDATA[Is it possible to command someone who is already inclined to act according to Prabhākara?&#160; Bṛhatī ad 6.1.1 says na pravṛttapravartane prayogaḥ āmantraṇādiṣu vyabhicārāt, literally: &#8220;[Exhortative endings] are not used to promote people who are already active, because of the deviant case (vyabhicāra) of invitations&#8221;.&#160; In fact, Prabhākara appears to believe that commands are always [&#8230;]]]></description>
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<p>Is it possible to command someone who is already inclined to act according to Prabhākara?&nbsp;</p>



<p>Bṛhatī ad 6.1.1 says <em>na pravṛttapravartane prayogaḥ āmantraṇādiṣu vyabhicārāt</em>, literally: &#8220;[Exhortative endings] are not used to promote people who are already active, because of the deviant case (vyabhicāra) of invitations&#8221;.&nbsp;</p>



<p>In fact, Prabhākara appears to believe that commands are always imparted on someone who is not yet active and who becomes active upon hearing them. The addressee of a command&nbsp; desires something already and recognises themselves as the addressee through such desires (see Freschi 2012), but they are not active until they become enjoined.</p>



<p>Now, if Prabhākara means that active people are never promoted to act, why are āmantraṇas a good example? Orders (ājñā) are not used as a standard example because their being a clear case of promoting someone not already active had been attacked by the opponent in the previous line.</p>



<p>As for āmantraṇa, the situation with āmantraṇa is ambiguous, but Śālikanātha takes it as connected to a command uttered among peers (thus, it is not a clear case of a command uttered for people who are not already active). Moreover, what is the role of the vyabhicāra argument? How can a vyabhicāra argument be used to convince someone that something is *always* the case? A vyabhicāra can be used to show that it is incorrect to claim that &#8220;All As are B&#8221;, since there is at least one A that is not a B, but it can&#8217;t be used to corroborate &#8220;All As are B&#8221; by showing a further case of an A that is indeed B. In other words, why speaking of &#8220;vyabhicāra&#8221; and not of &#8220;yathāmantraṇeṣu&#8221; or the like if this was what he meant? The only possible explanation seems to be to think of āmantraṇādiṣu vyabhicārāt as &#8220;because the case of invitations, etc., deviates from the [opponent&#8217;s] claim&#8221;. &nbsp;</p>



<p>Still, if it is impossible to command someone who is already inclined to act, how can Prabhākara make sense of permissions? When we are already about to light a cigarette and look around and ask whether it is OK and someone tells us &#8220;No problem, go ahead!&#8221;, isn&#8217;t the &#8220;go ahead&#8221; a command directed to someone who is already active?



Could Prabhākara perhaps say that a command cannot enjoin someone who is already active because it would miss the apūrva element? 
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