Question 30 What type of fallacy is implied in the following "Fire is cold,…

Concept

In Nyāya logic, a hetvābhāsa is a fallacious reason — a middle term (hetu) that looks like it proves the thesis but does not. Bādhita (the sublated reason) is the specific case where the conclusion drawn from the hetu is directly refuted by a stronger source of knowledge — typically perception — so the inference is overruled before it can stand.

Application

Examine the argument “Fire is cold, because it is a substance.” The thesis claims fire is cold; the offered reason is that fire is a substance. But the conclusion “fire is cold” is contradicted by direct perception: we plainly experience fire as hot. A stronger, non-inferential pramāṇa (perception) overrides the inference, so the reason is sublated. That is precisely Bādhita.

Contrast

• Viruddha (contradictory): the reason would have to prove the very opposite of the thesis. Here “substance” does not establish that fire is hot; it simply gets defeated by perception — so this is not Viruddha.

• Asādhāraṇa (uncommon): the reason would be too narrow, present only in the subject and absent from every like and unlike case. “Substance” is extremely wide, not exclusive, so this does not fit.

• Anupasaṃhārī (non-conclusive): the reason would be all-inclusive, leaving no like or unlike instance for comparison. The defect here is contradiction by perception, not the absence of comparison classes.

Result: the reason is overruled by a stronger perception, which is the defining mark of Bādhita.