India · c. 2nd c. BCE – 2nd c. CE (traditional author)
Akṣapāda Gautama
Traditional author of the Nyāya Sūtra
He listed sixteen topics for disciplined debate and four means of knowledge, and set out the five-part syllogism—thesis, reason, example, application, conclusion—as the form of sound argument.
Life and thought
Akṣapāda Gautama—“Akṣapāda” means “eye-footed”, a name later legends tried to explain—is the traditional author of the Nyāya Sūtra, the root text of the Nyāya school of logic and epistemology. He is little more than a name: the text grew in layers, is usually dated somewhere between the 2nd century BCE and the 2nd century CE, and was handed down with the commentary of Vātsyāyana (c. 5th century).
The Sūtra treats philosophy as disciplined debate aimed at liberation, which comes from right knowledge. It recognises four means of knowledge—perception, inference, comparison and reliable testimony—and sets out the five-step argument: “The hill has fire (thesis), because it has smoke (reason); wherever there is smoke there is fire, as in a kitchen (example); this hill has smoke (application); so it has fire (conclusion).” It also catalogues fallacies and tricks of debate. Buddhist logicians from Dignāga on attacked its account of perception, and the argument with them shaped Indian logic for a thousand years.
Works
Shaped by
c. 2nd c. BCE? (dates uncertain)KaṇādaFounder of Vaiśeṣika, India’s classic atomismShaped
fl. 14th c., MithilāGaṅgeśa UpādhyāyaFounder of Navya-Nyāya, the ‘new logic’Criticised by
c. 480–540DignāgaDignāga rejected Nyāya’s four means of knowledge and its account of perception.fl. c. 800 (estimates range from 725 to 840)Jayarāśi BhaṭṭaJayarāśi took apart Nyāya’s definitions of perception and inference one by one.Meanwhile, in other traditions
c. 50–135EpictetusFreed slave who taught Stoicism at Nicopolis121–180Marcus AureliusRoman emperor who wrote Stoic notes to himselffl. 2nd–3rd c. CESextus EmpiricusPhysician whose books are our main source for ancient skepticismOn the record
Akṣapāda Gautama, traditional author of the Nyāya Sūtra, is dated somewhere between the 2nd century BCE and the 2nd century CE.
The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy calls the Nyāya-sūtra the oldest extant Nyāya text and dates its attributed author Gautama to c. 200 CE, at the late end of the atlas’s range. Wikipedia has no separate article on him: “Akshapada Gautama” redirects to “Nyāya Sūtras”, so the link now points there directly.