section_path: Indian philosophy/Orthodox schools/Vaiśeṣika
section_name: Vaiśeṣika
paragraph_text: Vaiśeṣika
  
  Vaiśeṣika is a naturalist school of atomism, which accepts only two sources of knowledge, perception, and inference. This philosophy held that the universe was reducible to paramāṇu (atoms), which are indestructible (anitya), indivisible, and have a special kind of dimension, called "small" (aṇu). Whatever we experience is a composite of these atoms.
  
  Vaiśeṣika organized all objects of experience into what they called padārtha s (literally: 'the meaning of a word') which included six categories; dravya (substance), guṇa (quality), karma (activity), sāmānya (generality), viśeṣa (particularity) and samavāya (inherence). Later Vaiśeṣika s (Śrīdhara and Udayana and Śivāditya) added one more category abhava (non-existence). The first three categories are defined as artha (which can be perceived) and they have real objective existence. The last three categories are defined as budhyapekṣam (product of intellectual discrimination) and they are logical categories.