Falsifiability of Falsifiability: Neti - Neti in Advait Vedant - A Comparative Analysis in Search for Truer Knowledge

Shambhavi Tiwari

Abstract: Karl Popper's theory of falsification as a criterion for the demarcation of scientific knowledge has long been a subject of endless debate on the impact it can have on positivism and on the methodology of acquiring as well as refining knowledge. It may interest the reader that a conceptualisation often likened with falsification has been the form and content of an age - old chant repeated endlessly in praise of the divine within the Sanatan philosophical tradition and examined at length by the revered Adi Shankaracharya in his commentaries on Badrayan's Brahmasutra and Bhagvadgita. In this article, we would be looking at an interesting interaction of these two traditions of knowledge peering through the keyhole of a timeless tale chosen meticulously from the vast expanse of narratives pervading the Sanatan darshan.

Keywords: Falsifiability, Falsification, Neti Neti, Advait Vedant, Knowledge, Traditions